NFL Notes: Week 2
The Pittsburgh Steelers are not good:
The Steelers are not going to be good at any point this season. Seems for the longest time we’ve always given Pittsburgh the benefit of the doubt. Every year no matter how many players they were missing or how little they did in the offseason, the conventional wisdom is always the idea that you can’t count the Steelers out. Well I’m here to tell you right now, today, you can go ahead and count them out. Look, the problem is, everyone is going to start doubting Ben Rothlisberger, and I’m not a huge fan of his, but this will not be his fault. He’s a really good QB that can give a good team a shot at the championship. I think they should really start to rate NFL players and coaches by a plus/minus wins statistics. For instance the Colts consistently were an 11 win team when Peyton was playing. He gets injured and they win only 2 games. He’s worth about 9 wins on his own. Big Ben in this context is worth about 4 wins. That’s huge to an already competitive team. He’s on that Eli, Flacco level. But the Steelers made no moves this offseason and didn’t really draft well, so they will be falling off. I said it earlier during the offseason and these first two weeks have confirmed it.
Eli Being Eli…:
Please everyone, can we stop being surprised at the number of turnovers Eli has caused in the first two weeks. If you remember what I just wrote, you’ll see what I see. Eli is a big play quarterback. Each game he gets about 2-3 75 yard touchdown passes. With that, he’s big on risk. He’s been an 80 Quarterback rated QB all his career. So stop being surprised. Seriously, for both his Superbowl runs his team made the playoffs in spite of his errors. I waxed on Eli enough already, but I’ll say it again, this doesn’t mean he’s a bad Quarterback. He’s the perfect Quarterback in certain situations. If you have a team that can be considered a contender, he drastically improves your odds of winning. But Eli has never been able to turn a pretender into a contender. That category is scarce and only populated with 4 QBs. Peyton (who made the Colts contenders for more years than he ever should’ve), Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees. That’s it. So if you don’t have those guys, Eli is a good back up plan.
Remember The Titans:
I called it during the offseason and I think it’s coming true. The Titans are the dark horse of the AFC. To be fair, I also called the fact that Kansas City was overrated as we went into the season, and it’s looking like I might’ve been wrong on that one. Both these teams have the make up of a perfect dark horse candidate. They have very good defenses, competent QBs that protect the ball and a good to quite good running game. I think one of these teams will definitely cause a stir in the playoffs and might even find themselves in the AFC in the championship game getting pummeled by Peyton Manning.
Have I mentioned Peyton Manning yet:
This ones going to be quick. Peyton Manning now has 9 TDs and zero interceptions. In two games he’s had the equivalency of a very good third of a season. Aaron Rodgers is quietly being good as usual, but I think he might get eclipsed this year by Peyton who looks flawless in that offense right now.
Phillip Rivers is still good:
People are surprised by the “resurgence” of Phillip Rivers. I put resurgence in quotes because to me its not a resurgence. He was never bad. He simply had a bad team and a bad coach. He’s certainly not a tier 1 QB (I listed those 4 already) but he’s definitely a tier 2 QB and I actually think they have a good chance of making the playoffs. With that sidearm motion he just needed a good O-line.
These teams have a shot:
The Eagles, Cowboys, Giants, Miami, Tennessee, Kansas City, Houston, San Diego, and Detroit, are all teams on the cusp that could make surprisingly long runs if the right things fall into place.
These teams do not:
The Redskins, Panthers, Buccaneers, Viking, Jets, Jaguars, Ravens, Raiders, and Steelers will not be in the playoff picture. It’s only 2 weeks in but I just don’t foresee them making the turn around.
Welp that’s it. Let’s all get ready for the all too annoying Thursday night game and see which teams can really stand out.