Tag: 2023 NFL Week 7

NFL Week 7 Awards: Myles Garrett’s greatness is being wasted on the Browns

Just imagine Myles Garrett’s dominance on a real NFL team.

Let’s make this simple. The Cleveland Browns are beyond fortunate they have a human magnet of goodwill and sheer power in the form of Myles Garrett. The prolific defensive end is at the hallowed point in his career where he seemingly controls the line of scrimmage with minimal effort, even though it’s readily apparent he’s just that dominant. He is a game-wrecker of the highest order.

Take his performance against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday as a perfect example. Garrett recorded nine tackles, two sacks, and two quarterback hits. Oh, and he even blocked a field goal by jumping over the blocking guard before Indianapolis kicker Matt Gay even had a chance to make contact with the ball.

This is beyond exceptional:

Better yet, look at how easily Garrett rips through the right side of the Indianapolis offensive for a sack fumble below. Once again, this is not normal athleticism for a man at Garrett’s listed height and weight of 6-foot-4, 271 pounds:

With the Browns’ elite defense carrying Cleveland to a 4-2 record, we are witnessing Garrett finally leaping to a true national platform. He’s long been one of the NFL’s more elite defenders since entering the league in 2017, but the Browns have mostly … stunk. Now that they resemble a playoff-adjacent team buoyed by its defense, it will be hard to argue against the four-time Pro Bowler earning his first career Defensive Player of the Year Award in the coming months. This is Garrett’s glorious moment, and he deserves every bit of the limelight.

But there’s still something that irks me, at least and only in favor of Garrett.

This Browns team should be ready to win and compete now. But I have doubts that if Cleveland sneaks into the playoffs, it’ll be able to make any noise. That’s because the Browns have no consistently good quarterback play. Deshaun Watson, once accused of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women in what the NFL would characterize as “predatory behavior,” is a financial albatross. When healthy, Watson is one of the league’s most inept passers. He almost singlehandedly drags down the ceiling of what Garrett’s accomplishments can achieve for the Browns. They have no legitimate chance of upending any of the AFC heavyweights with an efficient and ineffective signal caller like Watson. (If they ever turn to P.J. Walker, well, let’s be frank: he’s a backup for a reason, folks.)

And that’s just a real shame for someone as gifted as Garrett.

We are witnesses to him becoming another all-time defender right in front of our eyes. He deserves a real run at it — meaning, a shot at a championship — and he deserves a quarterback who can match his brilliance to get there. Maybe someday he’ll get one.

Elsewhere in Week 7 in the NFL, Lamar Jackson showed us why he has his slippery, magical reputation in the pocket. Meanwhile, Drake London literally went upside down in one of the week’s wackier plays and aftermaths. Also, I wouldn’t want to get on Jonathan Allen’s nerves tonight after what his Washington team just endured.

Let’s hand out some awards and wrap this chaotic Sunday up.

Patriots CB J.C. Jackson weirdly held Stefon Diggs’ hand before a contested Bills pass

J.C. Jackson accidentally invented a new way to stop Stefon Diggs.

The New England Patriots might have pulled off a monumental 29-25 upset of the rival Buffalo Bills Sunday, but it was cornerback J.C. Jackson who seemingly innovated the most.

As Buffalo receiver Stefon Diggs ran a deep route and improvised with quarterback Josh Allen, Jackson was tasked with slowing the playmaker down. Eventually, once Diggs just threw his hand up while trying to get Allen’s attention, Jackson matched him. Of course, he might have matched him too much when he just resorted to holding Diggs’ hand.

And he wouldn’t let go all the way through an eventual incompletion. That’s one unique way of defending, I suppose.

Look, Diggs still ended up with six catches for 58 yards and a score, so it’s as not if Jackson shut him down. And it’s not as if this sort of defense is sustainable (was no one going to penalize this sequence for holding? It literally fits the definition).

But still, props to Jackson for giving us one of the funnier moments from Week 7.

Gene Steratore was convinced that the refs mistakenly gifted the Packers’ Romeo Doubs with a TD

The Packers’ “Fail Mary curse” is OVER!!!

After a clunker of a Monday night game and a needed bye week, the Green Bay Packers were in desperate need of a rebound. Jordan Love, in particular, had to bounce back after throwing three interceptions in one of the worst efforts of his career. Little did he know that officials in Denver would be very kind to help him try and ignite the Packers’ offense.

As Green Bay tried to capitalize on a late third-quarter red zone trip against the Denver Broncos, Love inexplicably lobbed up a weak ball to receiver Romeo Doubs at the near corner of the end zone.

When Doubs went up for the pass, Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain simultaneously had the ball in his grasp mid-air. The play was ruled a Packers touchdown, but former NFL referee and now CBS officiating analyst Gene Steratore was in disbelief Green Bay got the conclusive touchdown.

Frankly, he probably has a point:

While, yes, Doubs more or less beat Surtain to the ball, he did not establish clear possession with both feet down, according to Steratore’s interpretation of the rule book. But that’s not how the referees at Mile High viewed it. On this occasion, they wanted to give the Packers a fateful “Prevail Mary.”

That curse, first borne in an infamous game with the Seattle Seahawks, is over.

Jonathan Allen went off in expletive-laden rant after Commanders’ loss to the Giants

“It’s been 7 [expletive] years of the same [expletive].”

The Washington Commanders were supposed to be better than this. Yes, they had a first-year full-time starting quarterback in Sam Howell, but there’s simply too much talent on this team to have a losing record. Yet, after a dispiriting 14-7 loss to the New York Giants Sunday, that’s precisely where the Commanders stand.

We are almost halfway through the 2023 season, and Washington possesses a losing 3-4 record.

For vested star veterans like defensive tackle Jonathan Allen, this sort of futility will simply not stand anymore. Not that it should, anyway. In a video courtesy of NBC4’s JP Finlay, an angry and frustrated Allen erupted in a (correct) rant about everything his Commanders do poorly — which hasn’t really changed in his seven years in the NFL.

(Warning: NSFW language in the video below.)

Oh my goodness. I mean, nothing Allen says there is inherently incorrect. He might have added a little bit of “spice” to his rant, but it’s all valid. No one quite gets in the Commanders’ way like the Commanders themselves. Allen has experienced one winning season since he entered the NFL in 2016.

No wonder he’s fed up.

Falcons WR Drake London going airborne (and upside down) became an instant meme

Drake London went upside down for nothing but at least it led to great jokes.

It ultimately didn’t mean anything because the Atlanta Falcons beat the rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers 16-13 anyway, but receiver Drake London enjoyed a rather unfortunate moment near the goal line Sunday.

With the Falcons driving halfway through the third quarter, London took a 13-yard pass to the near corner of the end zone. When Tampa Bay defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr. went for London’s on the tackle, the receiver went airborne before landing upside down on his head as he reached the pylon.

Fortunately, London wasn’t hurt on the sequence. Unfortunately, he was ruled down by officials after a review. And then Desmond Ridder fumbled the ball on the next play.

Woof. Tough break.

You love to see efforts like this from London, a young player expected to be a top playmaker for the Falcons. Sometimes, the effort just doesn’t match the results in this make-or-break professional football league.

Justin Fields looked so happy for Bears backup QB Tyson Bagent after he threw his first TD

Justin Fields showed what it means to be a good and classy teammate here.

With Justin Fields nursing a thumb injury, backup quarterback and former Division II player Tyson Bagent had to play hero for the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

The young player shouldered the responsibility well, guiding Chicago to a 21-3 lead over the Las Vegas Raiders. He didn’t make any flash plays, but he also more or less kept the Bears’ offense rolling along with a solid ground-based attack Las Vegas had no answer for. Even if Bagent seemingly couldn’t throw Hail Marys, he punctuated a solid game-manager performance by throwing his first career NFL touchdown to running back D’Onta Foreman.

It’s simple plays and throws like this that could give Bagent a long, serviceable career as a backup:

However, what might have been more notable was what happened after the Bears offense left the field. In a still photo (via @_MarcusD3_ on Twitter), a clearly ecstatic Fields seemed so happy for his young backup. Fields beamed with a hilarious grin when Bagent sat down next to him on the Chicago bench:

Folks, that’s what it means to be a good teammate. It’s not the highest bar, especially for Fields, as he deals with a tough injury situation, but that’s how you show support for guys trying to make a name for themselves. It’s what you’re supposed to do — hype up your teammates.

It’s abundantly clear Fields cares about Bagent and wants to see him do well, regardless of what bearing it could have on his own Chicago future. That’s what it’s all about.

Lamar Jackson’s scrambling wizardry led to an absurd TD against the Lions

Lamar Jackson looked like an MVP on this RIDICULOUS scramble.

In today’s NFL, few things match the magic Lamar Jackson can create when he scrambles in or outside of the pocket. He is, quite simply, a wizard with the ball in his hands who lets few broken plays die at first blush. The Detroit Lions learned this in devastating fashion during their litmus test game with the Baltimore Ravens.

With Baltimore already up 7-0 after an emphatic opening scoring drive, Jackson had his Ravens seeking more rather quickly. Not even Aidan Hutchinson — who had multiple shots at Jackson — would stop him on the below third-and-short, where Jackson created at least seven additional seconds for himself.

With that kind of time, it’s no wonder Nelson Agholor eventually came wide open:

If that play seemed routine even for someone like Jackson, it assuredly wasn’t. According to Next Gen Stats, Jackson created 9.24 seconds on the throw — the longest time to throw on a touchdown pass in seven years:

It’s plays and overall performances like this — Jackson has been actively tearing apart the Lions all afternoon — that make it clear the superstar quarterback is en route to another potential MVP campaign. Any part of his resume and highlight reel probably starts and ends with this scrambling touchdown.

The Saints gave Derek Carr $100 million guaranteed to play like the league’s most anonymous QB

Carr is easily the NFL’s most forgettable QB. That’s a HUGE problem for the Saints.

The point behind Schrödinger’s cat is a simultaneous contradiction. The hypothetical situation leaves open the possibility that a cat might exist or might not at the same time because it’s sitting in a closed box. We only know and understand reality once we make a concrete observation — the cat is gone because we can’t see it, for example — but the other side of the coin still exists.

This is what it’s like to watch Derek Carr play professional quarterback.

The New Orleans Saints starter ostensibly has the talent to succeed at the highest level of football. A big arm. Sometimes a good touch. Decent athleticism. Solid experience. But when you watch Carr play — you know, make an observation — you see a 10-year veteran incessantly focused on throwing five yards short of the sticks and who sails many passes wide before plays even begin. He’s a streaky player who can’t run a functional, high-flying offense anymore. Honestly, if you don’t include his outlier 2016, it’s hard to say he’s ever done so.

Carr is Schrödinger’s quarterback, a player who looks simultaneously good and bad. After a 31-24 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars Thursday night, where Carr predictably fell just short of salvaging one of the worst three quarters I’ve ever seen a quarterback play — it’s apparent he won’t take the Saints anywhere meaningful. Yes, even with the caveat of a Foster Moreau dropped touchdown that should’ve forced overtime in the final moments, little felt encouraging.

When the Saints signed Carr in the off-season, they thought they had made a calculated risk. According to Over The Cap, they made Carr the 16th-highest-paid NFL quarterback by the $100 million guaranteed on his contract. That same contract only carries a real commitment until the end of 2024, when eating $17.1 million in dead space doesn’t seem all that fatal. They did it because they had hoped Carr would be enough to elevate a core with some great remaining talent (Marshon Lattimore and Demario Davis, for two) from the late 2010s squad that won five playoff games. (Also, because general manager Mickey Loomis wouldn’t understand salary cap management if it was on the back of his hand.)

Again, Carr resembles everything you’d want in a prototypical starting quarterback — someone who could theoretically lift the Saints just by being merely competent.

Through seven games, Carr has fallen everywhere short of that low bar. Per RBDSM.com, his Expected Points Added (EPA) and Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE) composite is 0.068, good for an uninspiring 17th in the NFL. He only completes around 65 percent of his passes — which isn’t even good anymore in a league that sees many teams average at least 30 pass attempts — because he avoids risks. On Thursday night, the Jaguars and defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell, for one, sometimes took away any New Orleans big plays with a standard Cover 2 shell. The way Carr avoided it by spending 45 minutes force-feeding Alvin Kamara five yards from the line of scrimmage as if he started him on his fantasy football team boggled the mind.

If there was a play to be made in the middle of the field, Carr and his receivers, particularly Chris Olave, took forever to get on the same page. There were more than a few stances of off-timing or poor spacing at the worst moments. A prime breakout candidate after an Offensive Rookie of the Year-caliber campaign last season, it’s almost remarkable Olave has still produced well for the Saints this year. He is a product of his quarterback, a signal-caller who is, every so often, obsessed with throwing plays away before turning on the afterburners late.

Here’s a perfect first-half juxtaposition of Kamara and Olave from Thursday night. It is an encapsulation of how Carr often utilizes them and his other teammates. Better said, it is a representation of how Carr can put the Saints offense in neutral:

  • Kamara (a running back): Eight receiving targets for 60 yards (finished with 14 targets, 12 catches, and 91 receiving yards)
  • Olave: Seven targets for 17 yards (finished with 15 targets, seven catches, and 57 yards)

No wonder the Saints have scored at least 30 points in a game just once this season. And no wonder their offense looks like it’s pulling teeth sometimes. Until a late fourth-quarter rally against Jacksonville, New Orleans had scored one touchdown in 10 home quarters.

If the below early sequence where the Jaguars couldn’t stop stepping on rakes doesn’t do Carr’s flavorless Saints offense justice, I don’t know what will:

Good lord.

For posterity, that is an opposition opening-possession touchdown. A missed field goal after a stalled red zone trip because of bizarre throws like this. A three-and-out after starting near midfield thanks to a goofy fumble. And, of course, a Jacksonville unofficial second-possession touchdown to punctuate how easy it is to score when the quarterback is dialed in and on the same page with his teammates for a full game. That is something the Saints do not possess, which is why they’re 3-4 and treading water.

New Orleans’ situation with Carr isn’t entirely hopeless. Before an early-season shoulder injury, Carr looked more comfortable completing throws downfield and in the middle of the field. In this case, Olave, Rashid Shaheed, and Michael Thomas looked somewhat capable of spearheading a vertical-based offense that wasn’t special but remained as effective as needed. Carr has clearly tried to play through his ailment — which initially seemed as if it would sideline him for a little while — and the effect has borne out these mostly uninspired results. The Saints were also without starting tackles Ryan Ramczyk and James Hurst Thursday night. Part of Carr’s focus on check-downs stemmed from a line that could barely hold up to a semi-competent Jacksonville pass rush.

The problem is that this is who Carr has been more or less his entire career. While he’s obviously hurt now, it is impossible to distinguish whether he’s healthy or on the field with an injured shoulder when you watch him play. His regular style of play is tantamount to how a limited player would feature. So, while the Saints can move on from him after next season, that is two wasted years of that same retooled core they’re currently leaning on to prop up their chances at winning.

By the time Carr is done with New Orleans, it could be closer to a rebuild than the NFC South title they’re still hoping to capture in 2023. That, above all, is the real price you pay for an anonymous quarterback who appears to have the goods in spots but can’t consistently deliver. A thought experiment playing quarterback.

NFL power rankings Week 7: No more unbeatens, new No. 1 stakes claim

The last of the unbeatens were defeated on Sunday, reshuffling the top five yet again.

The NFC’s last two teams standing in the 2022 season had maintained that excellence through the first five weeks of the season. The Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers seem destined for an NFC Championship game rematch as both started their years with five straight wins. On Sunday, both fell from the ranks of the undefeated when facing two of the AFC’s top defenses.

Losses to the Jets and Browns, respectively, paved the way for a new No. 1 to emerge, the fourth different team to hold the pole position in the 2023 season. There’s a crowd at the top, with five different teams now sporting similar 5-1 records. Who sits atop the rankings? Scroll to find out.