*NFL Week 7 and a NSFL Comparison

[ddrector]

Another week of the NFL season is in the books. With the trade deadline approaching teams that are in atop the standings are making moves to bolster their rosters in preparation for the second half of the season, while teams that are out of it are willing to sell off assets for future draft picks. The Falcons sent Mohamed Sanu to the Patriots for a second round pick. A pretty steep price, but the Patriots are in need of receiver help now that Josh Gordon is on the Injured Reserve. Another big receiver move was the 49ers sending a couple of draft picks to the Broncos for Emmanuel Sanders. Interesting that the two undefeated teams are the two teams making moves this week. Enough rambling from me, onto the Week 7 recap.

Chiefs over Broncos

Another snooze fest on Thursday night football. The biggest thing from this game was the fact that 2018 MVP and Madden cover player Patrick Mahomes was injured on a quarterback sneak early in the game and will now miss multiple weeks. He dislocated his knee cap and that will be a big blow to the Chiefs offense. Matt Moore came in as Mahomes backup and finished the game with a serviceable stat line. The Broncos offense was awful against a Chiefs defense that isn’t very good. Neither Lindsay or Freeman could get the ground game going as both were at around 3 yards a carry for the game. Flacco was sacked 8 times and fumbled 3 times losing 1 of them. Rookie first round pick Noah Fant got opened a couple times on what would have been nice gains, but dropped the ball. He’ll be good in the future, but he’s not there yet. The Chiefs have a tough matchup against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night this week. They are at home, which definitely helps, but without Mahomes I’m not sure they will be able to do enough on offense to make up for the defenses lack of being able to stop any decent offense. It’s unfortunate we don’t get to see Mahomes versus Rodgers in this one. They won’t play again in the regular season for 4 more years and Rodgers will be close to 40 at that point. The Broncos travel to Indianapolis for a touch matchup against the 4-2 Colts. At 2-5 they seem to be out of the playoff hunt already. At least that’s how it feels especially with trading away Sanders to the 49ers. The upcoming quarterback class has quite a few good players in it, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Broncos drafting one of them early.

The Outlaws (Chiefs) would crush the Coyotes (Broncos) if they ever faced, but alas they do not.

Rams over Falcons

The Falcons continue to look like one of the worst teams in football. I did not see this one coming at all. I thought the Falcons would be in the running for a wild card spot in the NFC, not in the running for a top 5 pick in the draft. The Rams completely dominated this game winning 37 to 10. The Falcons didn’t score a touchdown until late in the game when the game was already over. To make matters even worse for the Falcons, Matt Ryan was injured in the game and will likely miss at least a week, so old ass quarterback that I didn’t realize was still in the league Matt Schaub will start in his place. The Falcons host the Seahawks this week in a matchup that probably will end up similar to this game. After losing 3 games in a row the defending NFC Champions were able to right the ship in this game. Todd Gurley still struggled to gain traction on the ground, but Goff had a pretty good game. The Rams play the Bengals in London this week. Another game against a very weak opponent that the Rams should be able to take advantage of. I still don’t think this team will end up making the playoffs, but they will be in the wild card hunt for sure.

The Wraiths (Rams) and Outlaws (Falcons) played once in season 17 and the Outlaws won. Just another sign that my comparison for the Falcons was off.

Bills over Dolphins

The Dolphins actually kept this one close for most of the game. They went into the 4th quarter with a 14 to 9 lead, but then gave up 22 points in the 4th. Ryan Fitzpatrick had some success against the Bills defense, which was surprising to see. The Dolphins are now 0-6 and travel to Pittsburgh for Monday Night Football. What a weak game for Monday night. The Bills were coming off their bye and it took them a while to get things going, but were able to finally see some success in the 4th quarter and are now sneakily 5-1. A lot of people think they aren’t as good as their record indicates as they’ve played some weak competition. The Bills host the Eagles this week in a matchup that should tell us quite a bit about both teams. The Eagles are coming off a drubbing in Dallas and like I mentioned the Bills just played a game against the worst team in football and had to come back in the 4th to win it. A win would help shut up the doubters for Buffalo, but they will need to play better than they did against the Dolphins to beat an Eagles team that is more talented than their record indicates.

This is one of those NSFL/DSFL matchups that is part of the reason I’m going to re-compare in next weeks article. More on that after all the recaps.

Jaguars over Bengals

The Bengals continue their winless streak as they compete with Miami for the top pick in the draft. Dalton threw the ball 43 times in this game and the Jaguars fresh off of trading away top corner Jalen Ramsey were able to pick him off 3 times. Joe Mixon ran the ball 10 times for 2 yards. Mixon is a talented runner, but the Bengals offensive line is so putrid right now that he can’t do anything. I’d love to see them trade him to a running back needy team that can actually let him prosper. The Bengals were actually up in this game until the 4th quarter happened and the Jaguars put up 18 points. Fournette did most of the heavy lifting in this game running for 131 yards on 29 carries. Minshew was under 50% passing on the day, but he played mistake free, which was definitely a big part of why the Jaguars were able to win this game. The Jaguars are now 3-4 on the season and they host the Jets this week. That’s a game that I had some trouble picking. Neither team looks great, but someone has to win right? As I mentioned above the Bengals travel to London to play the Rams. They will most likely to continue struggling on the ground and be forced to throw all game long. Don’t expect the Bengals to put up many points on the Rams this week. Aaron Donald will feast against this line.

See my comment in the last game about NSFL/DSFL matchups. It is relevant for this game as well. Won’t be the case next week though.

Lions over Vikings

Here’s one of the games I got wrong this week. The Lions and Vikings were tied at the half, but the Vikings were able to keep scoring in the second half and the Lions couldn’t keep up. Dalvin Cook had a great day on the ground for the Vikings with 142 yards and 2 touchdowns on 25 carries. He’s been one of the top running backs in the league so far this year. Cousins also had a great day with 4 passing touchdowns and over 300 passing yards. He’s looked much better the past couple weeks after starting the season looking putrid. The Vikings host the Redskins on Thursday night this week, and by the time this is posted that game will be in progress. Fun fact: this is the first time since the 60s that 2 QBs are facing each other on the opposite team from their previous matchup. Cousins and the Redskins faced off against Case Keenum and the Vikings a couple years ago and now it’s the other way around. I don’t think the Vikings will have any trouble in the game tonight even without Adam Thielen. The Lions lost running back Kerryon “my wayward son” Johnson for the rest of the season, which is a big blow. They also fall to 2-3-1 in a very tough division, and I’ll be surprised if they are able to make it back to the playoff hunt. They are a good team, but not quite there on the defensive side to compete with the top teams in their stacked division. They host the Giants this week, and should be able to win that game, but if they do find a way to lose that will probably be it for their chances.

The Sabercats (Lions) actually beat the Yeti (Vikings) in their lone season 17 matchup. It’ll be the other way around in season 18 probably, but you never know.

Packers over Raiders

Aaron Rodgers decided he was tired of hearing how great the run game has been for the Packers success and how he doesn’t have to carry the team anymore. He went off on the Raiders for 429 yards passing and 5 touchdowns plus a rushing touchdown. He threw a passing touchdown to 5 different players as well, and didn’t even have his top option on the field. He spread the ball around so well no player had more than 4 receptions, but 8 players caught at least two passes from Rodgers in the game. The Raiders weren’t bad, putting up 24 points as well, but they couldn’t keep up with a masterful performance from the future hall of famer. Josh Jacobs continues to have a great rookie season as he had 124 yards on the ground in this game. Darren Waller continues to be a top target for Derek Carr as he had 7 receptions for 126 yards and two touchdowns. The Packers travel to Kansas City to take on the Chiefs, but they might have lucked out and might not have to face Patrick Mahomes. They can definitely win this game either way, but their chances to win increase mightily if he is out. The Raiders travel to Houston to play a good Texans team. The Raiders are now 3-3 and I think have played above expectations. Gruden is definitely getting his all out of this roster, and that’s impressive.

I compared the Packers to the Hawks and I think that might actually be a good comp, but the Raiders as a DSFL team will have to be adjusted.

Colts over Texans

The Colts got an impressive win over division rival Texans to get to 4-2 on the season. Jacoby Brissett had over 300 yards and 4 touchdowns on the day. Ebron had one of the best touchdown catches of the year and the Colts are in the driver seat in the AFC South. The Texans helped the Colts extend drives multiple times with defensive penalties and Deshaun Watson threw 2 interceptions. Neither team was really able to get the run game going very well, and it was a close game from start to finish. I expect their second meeting to be a potential winner takes the division type of game. The Texans host the Raiders and will need to bring their best to beat a good Raiders team. A loss could put them 2 games back in the division, which would be tough to come back from. The Colts host the Broncos coming off a Thursday night loss to the Chiefs. A game they should be able to win unless the Broncos find a way to actually move the ball on offense, which is unlikely against a solid Colts defense. I’m very impressed with how this Colts team has looked this season. Many wrote them off as soon as Luck retired, but Jacoby Brissett is a very capable quarterback.

The Outlaws (Texans) lost to the Butchers (Colts) in their season 17 matchup, so that was a rare instance where my comp was right on the money.

Giants over Cardinals

Another game I was wrong on. I should’ve known better than to pick the Giants in this matchup. I’ve learned my leason now. The Cardinals and Kyler Murray are starting to figure out how to have success on offense, but they can’t stop a decent offense for anything. They remind me a lot of the Panthers in 2011 when Cam Newton was a rookie. We could put up some points, but the defense couldn’t stop a fly, but then we drafted Luke Kuechly and the defense massively improved. Anyway, the Cardinals got out to an early lead in this one, but the Giants scored a couple times in the 2nd quarter and it was only a 3 point game going into the half. The big difference in this game was the Giants lack of being able to stop the run. Chase Edmonds came in for an injured David Johnson and ran for 126 yards and 3 touchdowns. Kyler Murray didn’t even have to do much. He finished with barely over 100 yards passing. Neither of these teams is ready to make the playoffs in a loaded NFC, but if these two rookie quarterbacks continue to improve they aren’t far away from being competitive. The Cardinals have a very tough test on the road in New Orleans this week. Whether Drew Brees or Teddy Bridgewater is taking snaps probably doesn’t matter, but I’ll be impressed if the Cardinals can hang with the Saints at all in this game. The Giants travel to Detroit to take on the Lions. This is a matchup they can win, but Daniel Jones needs to play mistake free football, and the defense can’t give up long pass plays to Stafford. Honestly, the Giants need to get Saquon Barkley more involved in the passing game. He only had 3 receptions for 8 yards against the Cardinals. He should be seeing more opportunities than that.

I compared these teams to the same DSFL team, so that’s not helpful.

49ers over Redskins

This game was played in a torrential downpour and there was basically no offense the entire game due to inability to do anything on a field full of mud and puddles. Neither team scored a touchdown as the final score ended up being 9 to 0. The Redskins only ran 41 plays, which is extremely low. Case Keenum only passed the ball 12 times. The 49ers remain a perfect 6-0 on the season and now host the Panthers who are coming off a bye. The Panthers under Ron Rivera have notoriously underperformed coming off a bye, which doesn’t make sense, but if you look at the Panthers win loss record from year to year nothing with the Panthers ever makes sense. This will be a tough test for the 49ers. This is probably the best defense they’ve played all year, and definitely the best running back they’ve faced. Other than their win at Los Angeles a couple weeks ago they haven’t really had to play any tough competition yet. This will be a big test. They acquired Emmanuel Sanders this week, so it will be interesting to see if they try and utilize him immediately. The Redskins are playing the Vikings on Thursday night and I don’t expect them to be able to win that game or probably most any of their remaining games this season. They are looking like a top 5 pick in the draft kind of team.

My comp for these teams is the Yeti (Redskins) and Liberty (49ers), which is probably backwards at best. The Yeti beat the Liberty in week 1 of season 18.

Chargers over Titans

Another game that I got wrong this week. The Chargers have already suprassed their total losses from last season, which is extremely surprising to me. Melvin Gordon fumbled the ball twice at the goal line which is the reason the Chargers lost this game. What a disappointing season from a team that I thought had a real shot to compete in the AFC. I don’t see them being able to win enough games in a row to make the playoffs. Philip Rivers is definitely one of the great quarterbacks to never win a super bowl, and probably the best quarterback to have never played in a super bowl. He still has a few seasons left I think, but the Chargers don’t seem like they are close to getting him there. They travel to Chicago to play the Bears this week in a game that I really struggled picking. Is Chicago any good either? So far they haven’t really been good at all. Either team could win that game and I won’t be surprised either way. The Titans host the Bucs in what could have been a matchup of quarterbacks taken back to back in the draft, but Mariota has been benched for Tannehill. The Bucs have shown that they can stop the run, which will determine the outcome of this game. If they continue to be successful at stopping the run then they will win this matchup, but if Henry has a good game the Titans will win.

Off the top of my head I’d say I would probably compare the Chargers to the Liberty and maybe the Titans to the Butchers? I guess you’ll have to find out next week.

Saints over Bears

The Bears could have taken Deshaun Watson or Patrick Mahomes in the first round of the NFL draft, but instead they took Mitch Trubisky. I didn’t know much about Mahomes coming into the draft, but I saw the way Watson carried Clemson to a come from behind national championship victory in college and I knew he was the type of athlete that can win a game in the NFL. Measurables don’t mean shit if you don’t have the It factor that makes a lot of these successful quarterbacks tick. Look at Russell Wilson. He was short and didn’t meet any of the prototypical measurements of a NFL quarterback, but he is now considered one of the best quarterbacks in the league. He has that It factor that Watson has and so many other good quarterbacks have. I knew from watching his one season in college at UNC that Trubisky wasn’t a great quarterback. Sorry for the rant, but the Bears are fucking stupid, and I could’ve told them that when they drafted Trubisky. The Bears defense is partly to blame here as well. They gave up 36 points to the Bridgewater lead Saints. Hell, the Saints didn’t even have Alvin Kamara in this game, but the Bears gave up 119 rushing yards to Latavius Murray. For a team that’s supposed to have one of the best defenses in the league, they didn’t show it in this game. Also, what is Matt Nagy thinking only running the ball 7 times the entire game? So far this season Nagy doesn’t look like he is going to keep his job for very long in Chicago. That talk will only get worse if they can’t beat the Chargers at home this week. The Saints play the Cardinals at home and Drew Brees might be ready to return. I’m not sure if he really needs to against the Cardinals, but I guess if he is ready to return why not?

The Butchers (Bears) and Wraiths (Saints) have played once so far in season 18 and the Wraiths came out victorious. One of the few times my comps worked. Maybe this one won’t be changing next week.

Seahawks over Ravens

The last game I got wrong. I really thought Seattle would be able to take care of business at home against the Ravens, but they struggled to stop the Lamar Jackson train and they couldn’t get the run game going. The Seahawks always perform best when they can rely on the run game. Jackson had over 100 yards both passing and rushing with one rushing touchdown. Newly acquired corner Marcus Peters got a pick 6 against Russell Wilson, which is a rarity. The Ravens are now 5-2 with a commanding lead in the AFC North and are on bye this week. With the way the AFC North looks the Ravens could probably win the division at 8-8, but they’ll win more than that. The Seahawks are also now 5-2 and second in their division to the undefeated 49ers. Those will be some big matchups later in the season. The Seahawks travel to Atlanta to face off against one of the worst teams in the NFL, which should put them back on track.

I compared both of these teams to the Butchers. Not a terrible comparison, but not helpful either.

Cowboys over Eagles

The Cowboys really dominated the Eagles in this game. I did not think it would be this big of a margin of victory. The Eagles were only able to put up 10 points to the Cowboys 37. Elliott had a successful day running the football for over 100 yards and a score. The Cowboys are now 4-3 and leading the NFC East heading into their bye week. The entire NFC East seems pretty weak, and I expect the Cowboys to lose quite a few of their non-division games, but I won’t be surprised if they finish 6-0 in their division. The Eagles travel to Buffalo this week in a game they really can’t afford to lose. It will be a tough matchup against a very good defense, but a loss would be very bad for their playoff chances.

I compared both of these teams to the Outlaws and I’m not sure that was a good comp for either team. I’m going to try and avoid comping teams in the same division to the same team when I re-comp next week.

Patriots over Jets

The Patriots made the Jets look very bad on Monday night this week. The Patriots remain undefeated and the Jets don’t look like they are close to being a playoff team. Maybe next year for the Jets. The Patriots defense is disgustingly good and I will be shocked if they lose a game. The Jets travel to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars in a game they are good enough to win in, but they probably won’t. The Patriots host the Browns in a game that Baker Mayfield can’t afford to give up turnovers in and yet the Patriots defense is leading the league in takeaways by a large margin.

This is another one of those NSFL/DSFL comps that can’t be judged properly.

So there’s all the recaps from last week. I got a bit short there at the end as I’m getting tired and wanted to get this out. Next week I’m gonna have a longer article where I re-comp each team before I do the recaps. I’m going to use the knowledge that I’ve gained from both the NFL season now that we’ll be at the halfway point and the knowledge from the first half of the nsfl season 18. I’m only going to compare NFL teams to NSFL teams so there are no more of these stupid NSFL/DSFL games that are pointless. I thought about possibly making all the NFC teams compared to NSFC teams and AFC teams to ASFC teams, but then there would be even more instances of two teams playing each other that are compared to the same team and I don’t want that. Also, if you have any comp suggestions leave them in the comments below.

My Week 8 picks:
Vikings over Redskins
Rams over Bengals
Seahawks over Falcons
Bills over Eagles
Bears over Chargers
Lions over Giants
Titans over Bucs
Saints over Cardinals
Jaguars over Jets
Texans over Raiders
49ers over Panthers
Colts over Broncos
Patriots over Browns
Packers over Chiefs
Steelers over Dolphins

[Dylandeluxe]

Always look forward to these my dude. Keep it up.