NFL 10/4/2024

The questions and discussion…

1) In  42-14 victory over the Cardinals the Commanders rookie QB Jayden Daniels completed 26 passes out of  30 attempts for 233 passing yards, 2 total TDs, an INT and ran for 47 rushing yards. That performance marked the second consecutive games that Daniels completed at least 85% of his passes… Week 3 saw him go 21 for 23/91.3%…  which was the first time in NFL history (ESPN Research) that feat had been accomplished.

So far in his brief career in the NFL… 4 games and a 3-1 record… he leads the NFL with a “career” completion percentage of 82.1% (87/106) for 897 yards, 3 TDs, an INT t ogo along with 218 rushing yards and another 4 TDs running it while in the red zone.

This time last year, fellow second overall pick C.J. Stroud was emerging as a superstar for the Texans, throwing for 306 yards and two scores in a blowout victory over the Steelers. His performance was no fluke occurrence as Stroud had one of the best rookie seasons in recent history, and he led a Houston Texans team, that essentially no one expected much from last season, from being a last place team in the 2022/23 season to winning the AFC South while winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year award.  

Is Jayden Daniels this NFL season’s C.J. Stroud… will Daniels’ rookie season mirror Stroud’s rookie year and as a result can he bring the Commanders from being last in the NFC East to, if not first in the division, to the playoffs? Why or why not?

Before the season began, I said that Jayden Daniels was my pick for Offensive Rookie of the Year. And so far, he’s lived up to that prediction I put out.

With the way Jayden Daniels has played, with putting up the best completion percentage among the first four games of a season by a rookie quarterback in NFL history, I can definitely see the Washington Commanders taking over the NFC East.

It’s a wide open division with the Cowboys not looking like their usual self on either offense or defense, allowing massive rushing yards per game and really missing Dan Quinn, who is now the head coach in Washington. The Eagles aren’t themselves either, with turnovers being an issue and not being able to complete games.

The Commanders dominated the Arizona Cardinals, in Arizona, last week. They slowed down the Bengals and overpowered them into a victory. The Commanders have already gone two straight weeks without punting the football (weeks 2 and 3). They’re looking like the team to beat, and I think Jayden Daniels can lead the Commanders to a divisional title and into the playoffs. 

Daniels might actually be better.

I watched him at LSU, and he’s better than he was there. He is taking to the pro game like a duck to water, and if he doesn’t get RG3’ed he’s going to have a great start to his career.

I’m excited for his second year, once the league has all the tapes for him. I think with Dallas being poorly run, the Iggles imploding and the Giants being the Giants… If Washington just stays competent and healthy, yes they can take the NFC Least.  

News Item: “The National Football League announced today that Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels has been named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Month for the month of September.”

And this is why… Since the season began and for all of September (obviously) Jayden Daniels has been 87-of-106 (82.1%) for 897 yards and has thrown 3 TDs with just 1 INT. Add in he has also ran for 218 yards and is proving to be a red zone threat with his legs with 4 rushing TDs. Daniels’ completion percentage of 82.1% is the highest completion percentage through four games in NFL history… not just for a rookie but for all players who have ever played in the NFL.

Right now Daniels is in the Top 10 in every relevant passing category and his current 107.4 passer rating is 3^rd in the NFL and 2^nd in the NFC in (107.4).

In addition Daniel also had consecutive games with an 85% or higher completion percentage… the first ever in NFL history to accomplish that feat.

And as if he needed to puff up his resume for the NFL to give him the monthly outstanding rookie award… he has also orchestrated more scoring drives (23) than incomplete passes thrown (19) through four games.

Right now he is on track to have one of the better ever rookie NFL seasons and possibly one of the better seasons ever for any NFL QB.

 However he going to run into some bumps in the road and and have a turn down statistically… but…

If he can keep playing at anything near what he has done so far in his limited NFL career and stay relatively mistake free, then I think…

Yeah. In what is looking to be a not very strong NFC East the Washington Commanders with Jayden Daniels at starting QB can win the NFC East.

And in many ways surpass what C.J. Stroud  did in his rookie year.  

2) In week 4 the Jacksonville Jaguars lost to the Houston Texans and now are 0-4 on the seson. The Jags are now 1-9 in its past 10 games after starting last season with an 8-3 record… the only win in that time period was a 26-0 win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 17 last year.

If the Jaguars don’t right the ship within the next few weeks by winning more games than they lose  will Doug Pederson will be the first head coach fired this season? Why or why not?

The Jaguars don’t look like a good team. They gave up an early-game lead to the Dolphins in Week 1 which resulted in a loss. They looked embarrassing against the Bills on Monday Night Football getting blown out of the stadium in the first half alone. Trevor Lawrence doesn’t look like he’s worth the contract he signed. The entire team looks stale.

The Jaguars ran off of Doug Pederson’s success in Philadelphia, and then him coming in and bringing them into the AFC playoffs in a close loss to the Chiefs. Since, they haven’t been themselves. And with their one win in the last ten weeks of play has been dismal, I think that Doug Pederson is going to get most of the season to right the ship. If the Jaguars end up being 0-8 or 0-9 and spiraling way out of control, Pederson’s job is going to be in serious jeopardy.

I think the Jaguars need an entire rebuild from owner to management to coaching. And if it doesn’t happen in-season, it’ll happen after the season. 

I don’t think you fire a coach mid-season, unless you have a coach in the staff you want to see how he handles the big chair- or you have a coach that has lost the locker room. The Jaguars need stability. Ownership needs to sit down with the locker room and ask them if Doug is the guy and go on that.

Plus if the Jags bounce and look for yet another coach, is anyone of quality going to want that job?  

Not yet, His job his probably safe throughout the majority of the season regardless how bad the Jags record is. The only way Pederson gets sacked before the midpoint of the season is if he begins to lose the plyers and it starts to create turmoil li the locker room.

But if they suck all season and wind up with either the top overall pick or the second pick in the draft then the story could change drastically.

3) The Cleveland Browns are paying Deshaun Watson $230 million guaranteed to play football at a high level (and presumably winning level) and are getting anything but that caliber of play from the QB.

In another winnable game that the Browns ultimately lost, Watson went a pedestrian 24 of 32 for 176 yards with a touchdown and an interception with Watson not doing anything in crunch time to enable the Browns to come out with a win.

If the Browns want to win games this season and have a shot at making then they need to bench Watson? Why or why not?

I think the issue with the Browns is that they’ve had a ton of issues on the offensive line dealing with injuries. They also don’t have much of an identity at running back with Nick Chubb still out while he’s recovering from his brutal leg injury last season.

The Browns have been a run team that has thrived on offense off of their offensive line and their defense. This year, the defense hasn’t been the same and with the enormous amount of problems on the offensive line, I’d still give the opportunity for Deshaun Watson to redeem himself and remain the starting quarterback.

However, if the offensive line is back healthy and Watson still looks like complete garbage, then it’s time to move on from him. But I don’t think the Browns are going to be competing for a playoff position this season. 

I’d bench him.

He plays like he needs to be benched. Cleveland paid for Houston Watson, or at least Clemson Watson. They aren’t even getting that. They need to have him get his head on right, or they need to cut him, dead money be damned.

This office is run horribly, and it shows. They cannot keep wasting this defense.  

Let me keep this simple…

I agree with David’s answer above totally.

Owner Jimmy Haslam needs to bite the bullet and take the horrific financial hit but with the way Watson has performed since coming to the Browns and continues to perform this season, costing the team games, its time to cut ties with him and move on.

This Browns team is not a terrible team and with consistent play, with limited mistakes, at QB they can be a playoff team. Just not with the way Watson is performing however.

4) The Minnesota Vikings have started the season 4-0 and much of that success can be attributed to the play of QB Sam Darnold.

With his performance in beating division rival Green Bay Packers in Week 4 Darnold became just the fifth quarterback since 1950 to go 4-0 with 10 passing touchdowns in his first four starts with a team and the first to do it since some guy named Patrick Mahomes did it in 2018.  

Heading into Week 5 Darnold is first in the NFL in passing touchdowns (11), yards per attempt (8.8), and passer rating (118.9) while completing 68.9% of his pass attempts for 932 yards.  

After being more or less run out of town from being the New York Jets starting QB, will Sam Darnold lead the Vikings to a division title and into the playoffs and in the process win this season’s NFL Most Valuable Player Award? Why or why not?

While I don’t think that the Vikings are going to be division champions, I think that Sam Darnold is going to lead the Vikings to the playoffs and is definitely in the top three for the MVP at this point in the season.

While he also has had the great blessing of a stout defense, he’s overcome missing pieces on offense (Addison and Hockenson missing time) while still operating offense with no issues against good teams. He lit up the Packers in the first half. He lit up the 49ers’ defense all game. He lit up the Houston Texans’ defense all game. He’s been stellar and is one of the best quarterbacks this season and is in my top three for MVP this season.

I think the Vikings are going to hit a slog at some point. The Packers showed that you can score a lot of points against Minnesota. They showed that a team can get on top of the Vikings and threaten them. The next time these two teams face each other, I think they’ll have a different outcome. The Lions still have to play against Minnesota, and that’s going to be a battle both games. I also still am under the belief that Sam Darnold is going to have his couple down games where he looks awful and that’s going to cost the Vikings valuable wins that could make the difference in the divisional race.

Don’t forget Carolina.

Who knows how this will turn out? How can anyone say how long this is going to last? There is plenty of film on Sammy, Justin Jefferson can only cover so many holes for so long. Being 4-0 can turn into 4-8 with a pulled hammy.

I can see Darnold taking this team to a dozen wins and a NFC North title, I could also see this going the way of the Saints offense and fighting Chicago for the 3rd spot in the division.

I honestly don’t know.    

 The history of the NFL is scattered with players who have had some bumpy career paths yet at various periods in their NFL careers have sparkled and shone.

Take Jim Plunkett for example…

He got drafted number one overall in 1971 by the Patriots and his play at QB began to turn a losing franchise around. Then in 1975 injuries struck, and to keep a long story short, due to various circumstances wound up being traded to the 49ers in 1976. Did so-so. Got cut in 1978 and picked up by the Raiders but was now just a backup QB rarely getting into games at all.

Then in 1980 QB Dan Pastorini broke his leg and the rest is history…

Despite throwing 5 INTs in the game when he replaced Pastorini the Raiders stuck with Plunkett and he wound up taking the team into the playoffs as a Wild Card  that went all the way to the Super Bowl and beat the Eagles 27–10 in Super Bowl XV. And won the MVP of that game while doing it.  

Will Sam Darnold’s season this  year come anywhere near what Plunket did? Who knows. But, hey it could happen. It did for Jim Plunkett.  

5) In the Eagles Week 4 loss to the Buccaneers, QB Jalen Hurts didn’t help matters by losing another fumble in the red zone… his third in the red zone this season, as well as his eighth turnover for the season.  

Hurts now has 27 turnovers since the start of last season and going back to last season he now has a giveaway in 9 straight games. In addition, the Eagles have not won the turnover battle in 12 straight games (4-8 in span).

Very arguably if Hurst cannot correct his propensity to lose the football then the Eagles will have a difficult time winning games and being a playoff team.

If Hurts keeps his “losing ways” with the ball and the Eagles either miss the playoffs or have an early exit from the playoffs will the Eagles move on from Hurts as their starting QB for the 2025 season? Why or why not?

 I don’t think the Eagles need to move on from Hurts, and I don’t think they will.

Unfortunately, the Eagles have been without their top wide receiver for the last three weeks while he’s dealing with a hamstring injury. They also had an injury to Devonta Smith that has limited the offense’s ability to move the ball down the field properly. AJ Brown is a huge part of the passing game and eliminating him restricts what the offense can do as a complete whole. While Saquon Barkley has been absolutely dominating and should be the leading MVP candidate on the season, I think Hurts needs AJ Brown back. But even if the Eagles don’t win the division this season, they won’t move on from Hurts at quarterback. Nor should they move on from him. Hurts has established himself as a franchise quarterback for Philadelphia and that’s where he’s going to remain for the time being. 

That defense is too good, and that division is too sad.

If we still had only 6 playoff teams, it might be a problem. That seventh one might change a lot of answers. Hurts has been a little shaky before, and probably will be again. It might take some time, maybe even the bye week.

This might be an instance where leadership has to get into the middle of this.  

Jalen Hurts is the Eagles QB for this season and for the foreseeable future. Unless he goes totally bonkers throwing INTs; turning the ball over and costing the team games that throws the Eagles season into the toilet he is not going anywhere.

The Eagles staff needs to figure out how to fix his sometimes propensity to throw the ball to the team with the other colored jerseys.