We are about to roll into week 10 as I type this which means we are officially at the halfway point of the NFL season. Bye weeks are rolling out and have been pretty heavily for the past few weeks, and some teams are starting to pull ahead and look like true contenders as others are clearly falling to the wayside. I can’t make one of these posts without talking about my teams, the Cowboys and the Browns so we’re just going to get this out of the way at this point, because I’m pretty much over it.
Now don’t get me wrong, it isn’t all bad. Dak Prescott continues to play smart, great ball and is having a good season. Ceedee Lamb has continued to be a key player and a heavy part of the offense, George Pickens and Javonte Williams have both over exceeded expectations and have been huge for the offense. That’s the thing, the offense is not the issue. I’m done biting my tongue about this defense though, I gave them the benefit of the doubt for a long time and hoped they would get it together, but my goodness they have not AT ALL. It hurts so much to see a team’s offense feel as fun and exciting to watch as the Cowboys have been this season and have them feel so poor and even unwatchable at times on the other side of the ball. I don’t know what’s going on or why it feels as bad as it does because I’ve seen players on this defense perform to a much higher level than they have this season so I’m leaning Team Fire Matt Eberflus at the moment, but we have some new players that were picked up right before the trade deadline that will hopefully make some kind of shift. Linebacker Logan Wilson from the Bengals (another one of the worst defenses in the entire league, but he was a positive standout on it), and defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. I am excited about Williams, he’s a hell of a defender to add to a floundering line and he’ll hopefully help them stop the run a little better than they have. Wilson will hopefully help with the missed tackles situation and help the defense quit giving up so much YAC. Just get some stops, be at least bearable to watch, and give our very good offense a real chance to win some games.
The Browns continue to have the opposite problem, the defense is clicking, and Myles Garrett continues to be one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL, but outside of standout rookie running back Quinshon Judkins being a boss, the Browns offense has been pitiful to watch a lot of time yet again. Myles Garrett got 5 sacks in 1 game the other week against the Patriots, setting his personal and the team’s record for most sacks in a single game, and the Browns got dogwalked that game 32-13. Stefanski, bro, I don’t know what stick you have up your butt or who you have in your ear but just start Shedeur man! What the hell do we have to lose though, for real?! I have nothing against Gabriel, he still has some potential I think, but he was given his chance and the result hasn’t changed. Just give Shedeur the ball and give him a chance too, the crowd is clamoring for it anyways. This is a way to continue to draw some excitement and attention from your fanbase to a suffocating, last place, 2-6 team.
Elsewhere around the league, the AFC is looking absolutely insane at the moment as neither the Chiefs, Bills, or Ravens stand at the top of their respective divisions and just a quick reminder, but we are HALFWAY through the season at this point! I mean what is going on though! The Bills sit in 2nd place of the AFC East at 6-2 because Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye have been turning the ship around over in New England this year for the Patriots and currently sit at 7-2 and atop the division. I don’t like it. The Patriots didn’t spend long enough being not good, they weren’t supposed to get a good QB/head coach combo this quickly, damn it. Also in the East, the Dolphins and Jets continue to be not very good and falling far behind in the division. The Steelers led by 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers are sitting at the top of the AFC North right now and that’s largely in part to the tremendously slow start that the Baltimore Ravens have had this year. They started the season 1-5! Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry led offense, 1-5, how? They’re climbing their way back in now though and have won 2 straight so I could see that division coming to a duel between those 2 teams. Elsewhere in the division the Bengals season is pretty much done without Joe Burrow, Flacco came in and added a level of excitement to the offense, but their defense is still just so bad. I already went over the Browns so not spending any more time on that nonsense. The Colts are running away with the AFC South and have one of the best records in football currently at 7-2. Jonathan Taylor is having himself an absolute year and Daniel Jones is a revitalized man in Indy, making all his receiving weapons (Pittman, Pierce, Warren) viable threats to opposing defenses and unlocking new potential for this team. They are on a bye this week and are coming off a bad game, so it’ll be interesting to see how they respond and bounce back, but the addition of CB Sauce Gardner right before the trade deadline is definitely going to stir things up for the defensively now as well. The Jags started off the season strong as well in the AFC South, but they’ve went on a bit of a skid recently and the injury to BTJ and the season ending injury to Travis Hunter isn’t going to help their chances moving forward any. Then you have the AFC West, the craziest division in the AFC currently. The Broncos lead it at 8-2 (incredibly surprising), the Chargers are actually in 2nd at 6-3, the Chiefs are currently 3rd at 5-4, and the poor Raiders are being left in the dust. I wouldn’t have believed this mid season lay out of the division had you showed me Week 1 in the slightest, and I still don’t buy it. The Chiefs are getting into the playoffs and they’re probably going to end up winning the division. Hope they prove me wrong, but until I see another result actually play out in real time…I’m done betting against the Chiefs and Mahomes.
Moving over to the NFC, starting with the East, the damn Eagles are sitting atop the division once again currently at 6-2. Their offense has looked lost and like they’re not clicking at times this year, but they’re still finding a way to get the job done a lot of the weeks. Kind of reminiscent of the Chiefs of 2024 honestly. The Cowboys still sit at 2nd place in the division and they’re only 3-5-1, but that just shows you how bad the division has been this year. The Commanders have disappointed immensely thus far and are currently 3-6 after some high hopes heading into the season, and now with Jayden Daniels sidelined yet again with a bad dislocated elbow their rest of season outlook isn’t any better. The Giants as well, the young guns Dart and Skattebo successfully brought in new life, culture, and excitement to a desperate Giants team and fanbase, but Skattebo suffering the horribly dislocated ankle a few weeks back took some of the wind out of their sails I think and they’re currently 2-7. I do think the Giants will be a team to watch in the coming years though, Dart and Skattebo are not about to just go away and they’re going to be a better team next season. Those boys both just play a very physical style of ball, so they’ll probably have to temper that moving forward for personal longevity in the NFL. The NFC North continues to be one of the tightest divisions in football, let me just run the numbers real quick. 1st place is the Packers (5-2-1), 2nd is the Lions (5-3), 3rd is the Bears (5-3), and in respectable last place is the Vikings (4-4). You can’t get a much tighter set of teams than that currently and it’s still any of these 4 teams division for the taking depending how these next 8 games or so play out. All these teams have had personal struggles offensively this season as well so I can’t even say that one looks a whole lot better than the others, I want to say I see the Lions winning the North currently because Campbell is just such a good coach and they have so many weapons still on that team, but I’m not real confident in that answer either. The Bucs are still sitting atop the NFC South at 6-2 because of the balls of steel on Baker Mayfield, but they’ve faced a plethora of injuries to their team that could hurt them the later in the season we get. The Panthers though are quickly approaching the Bucs though and sit at 5-4, largely in part to having a solid, stout defense and Rico Dowdle running like a madman and playing out of his mind these last handful of weeks. I’d love to see the Panthers back in the playoffs but only time will tell there. The Falcons are the most confusing team in football this year as they beat teams they have no business beating and then come right back and lose to bad teams. So, they currently sit at 3-5, and the Saints are currently a lost cause and sit at 1-8. Then comes the very tight nit NFC West, again we will just run the numbers really quick. The Seahawks are in 1st at 6-2, the Rams are RIGHT behind them also at 6-2, the Niners are right on the Rams ass as well at 6-3, and then the Cardinals are left behind at 3-5. Again, literally anyone’s division. The 49ers are the most beat up and injured team in football it feels like so it’s crazy to me that their record is even this good, but I just don’t know if this is sustainable for the long run or not. I am currently leaning Seahawks still mainly because Sam Darnold is playing like the best version of him that we’ve ever seen right now and Jaxon Smith-Njigba is putting up OPOTY like numbers week after week. But then there’s the Rams and we know that Stafford, Nacua, and Adams can do some major damage offensively and turn that switch whenever, so it’ll likely continue to be a dogfight down the stretch.
That’s all for this one though I believe folks! You feel caught up with the happenings around the league currently? I hope so. If so, make sure to like and follow the page on social media or bookmark it on your computer to keep up with new posts over the NFL, WWE, horror movies, and more dropped every week!
