It’s time to get ready for Week 4 in the 2021 NFL season, and there’s a lot more to this week than the Brady-Belichick game, though that’s where Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Mark Schofield start in this week’s preview/matchup podcast. Using tape study and advanced metrics, here’s what Doug and Mark discussed this week:
- Why Mac Jones, and not Tom Brady, will be the difference in Brady’s “revenge game;”
- Why Trevor Lawrence is better than you may think, but it’s Joe Burrow who now has a full passing game to exploit;
- Why Washington’s defense is struggling from front to back, and how even the Falcons (who rank dead last in Offensive DVOA this season) can make something of it;
- How the Lions can get their first win of the season against a Bears offense that should have Matt Nagy escorted right out of Halas Hall;
- Why the Panthers-Cowboys game might be the most interesting this week from a schematic perspective;
- How Patrick Mahomes has gone from consistency to randomness, though it may not matter, as the Eagles’ offense has no identity;
- Why Kirk Cousins will not find Cleveland’s new-look defense to be an easy test at all;
- How the Cardinals can keep up with a Sean McVay/Matthew Stafford offense that has weaponized both McVay’s and Stafford’s best traits;
- Why Pete Carroll had better throw the LOB out of his head and put a defensive game plan together for the players he actually has;
- How the AFC West became a total toss-up, and why Jon Gruden might be doing the best coaching of his career;
- And why the Steelers had better start thinking out loud about the game’s most important position.
Listen to the podcast on BlogTalk Radio:
And watch it on YouTube!