NFLRT 11/22/2024

The questions and discussion…

1) In the Eagles 26-18 win over the Commanders Saquon Barkley once again had an excellent game as he totaled 198 yards from scrimmage which was the eighth time he has accomplished that feat this season.  

As the NFL enters Week 12, has Barkley now taken over the lead as the favorite to win this season’s NFL MVP? Why or why not?

While I think Saquon Barkley can make a fantastic case for the NFL MVP this season in being such a huge difference maker for the Eagles this season, with leading the offense, but I don’t think he has taken the lead for league MVP. I might be in the minority (I haven’t read anything or heard anything regarding the talking heads), but my vote for the NFL MVP through 11 weeks is Buffalo Bills’ quarterback Josh Allen.

He’s led the Bills to a 9-2 record, a win over the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs, and has dealt with a re-shift of the offense this season after unloading Stefon Diggs, losing Gabe Davis and relying on a rookie wide receiver in Keon Coleman to be their main threat (outside of Shakir). He’s limited turnovers (five interceptions) and has been able to score both with his feet and throwing the ball (18 passing, 5 rushing touchdowns). He’s had two game-winning drives, over 300 rushing yards and over 2500 passing yards. He’s been on fire passing this season and helping lead the Bills to a 9-2 record in a year where they’ve shifted a lot of their overall pieces is insanely impressive.

The only thing that’s missing from this season is the past, in which the Bills haven’t been able to defeat the Chiefs in the playoffs to actually reach the Super Bowl, but I feel like this might be the year they can finally get over that mountain. 

In his first 10 games in an Eagles uniform, Barkley became only the third player in NFL history with at least 1,137 rushing yards, a 5.8 rushing average and 10 touchdowns through 10 games. The others are Jim Brown (1958 and 1963) and Walter Payton (1977).

Barkley is finally on a team that has a better than average QB and OL  with coaches who know how to use his talents all of which has aided him in using his exceptional talents as a RB to his and Eagles’ best  advantage not only to win games but to also to put to Barkley on a track to potentially set yardage-gained records rushing and yards from scrimmage for a RB in a single NFL season.

Presently Barkley leads the NFL in total yards from scrimmage (1,347); is tied for first in rushing attempts (199) and is second in rushing yards (1,137). Derrick Henry leads the NFL in rushing yards, but he’s accomplished it in eleven games compared to Barkley’s ten.

If Barkley continues the season on his current pace he projects to  finish the regular season… 1,933 yards rushing and 2,290 yards from scrimmage, which would be within shouting distance of the current records for both those categories: Eric Dickerson’s 2,105 rushing yards (Rams/1984) and Chris Johnsons’ 2,509 yards from scrimmage. And given the fact that Barkley has four games so fa this year with the following stats… Week 1: 146 run yards198 scrimmage yards; Week 3: 59 run yards/199 scrimmage yards; Week 5 176 run yards/187 scrimmage yards and Week 8: 147 run yards/156 scrimmage yards he could easily bust more than a few more o those types of games and wind up setting new standards for a single seson in both categories.

All of this makes him my current leader in the clubhouse to win this year’s NFL MVP and very possibly have a record breaking season doing it.

2) It would be arguably fair to say the Jayden Daniels of recent weeks does not seem to be the Jayden Daniels who helped the Commanders surge to being one the best teams not only in the NFC East but in the entire NFC and in doing so appeared to be growing into a budding NFL superstar player.

Has Jayden Daniels hit a wall in this his rookie season? Why or why not?  

While I think Jayden Daniels has hit a bump in the road since coming back from his rib injury, the real problem has been that he hasn’t been able to utilize his legs like he was throughout the first nine games of his career. Outside of his first game of his career in which they lost to Tampa, and he rushed for 88 yards, the rest of the Commanders’ losses have come in games in which he rushed for under 30 yards. In the past two games, he has ten total rushing attempts and only 23 rushing yards (18 last game, five yards v Pittsburgh). His numbers have been pretty similar to the rest of the season, though, and I think the Commanders are going to turn it around.

The problem with the entire offensive system is that Kliff Kingsbury has fallen off in the second half, and that’s been in his recent locations with multiple teams. Daniels is very talented and is still leading the Offensive Rookie of the Year rankings, and I have full belief that he’s going to turn it around for the Commanders. They have a game against a division rival this week in the Dallas Cowboys, who have looked awful, and offenses have been licking their lips in anticipation of feasting against. And I think this is going to be a good rebound game for Daniels to establish his rhythm back and get in his groove. 

Here is how is see this…

Yes Daniels appears to have hit what looks like to be the proverbial wall however consider that…

The present leader (IMO) for this year’s OROY has been facing some good teams with some very tough defenses in recent games, teams are watching film and adjusting their defensive schemes to c overcome his talents; the Commanders are presently missing some key pieces on offense and therefore  offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury’s play calling has become a tad too cautious and predictable and finally, Daniels suffered a rib injury during the first possession of their Week 7 game against the Carolina Panthers, forcing him to leave the game early; he was listed as “week-to-week” with the injury, missing practice during the week leading up to their Week 8 game but has stayed on the field as the Commanders starting QB.

All of which have contributed to Daniels having some not so “great” games of late as he was earlier in the season.

BUT… I agree with Dan…

And come this weekend Daniels is going to rake against the Cowboys porous pass defense and put to rest the talk about any wall he is hitting.

3) With the Pittsburgh Steelers 18-16 win over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 11, combined with the Buffalo Bills 30-21 win over the previously undefeated Kansas City Chiefs, the Steelers have an argument to stake their claim as the AFC’s top team as well as a legitimate Super Bowl contender.  

With Sunday’s win, the Steelers (8-2) now have a 1½ game lead over the Ravens (7-4) in the AFC North standings.

Ultimately when the regular season comes to a close which team wins the AFC North?  Why?

As much as I like the Baltimore Ravens this season, and think they should’ve won that game on Sunday, and would have if Justin Tucker had made one of his two missed field goals, I think the Steelers are the more complete team.

Not only have both quarterbacks found ways to win and be efficient for their offense, but they’ve actually improved overall on offense with Russell Wilson stepping in as quarterback. They have a lock-down defense that got better with the Preston Smith acquisition from Green Bay. They improved their weapons with acquiring Mike Williams from the Jets. George Pickens has a big-play potential, and that’s perfect for Wilson. He’s rebounded and shown himself from when he was in Seattle. He also knows how to win and what it takes from the top down in order to be a successful Super Bowl team.

Also, Mike Tomlin knows what it takes to win. He hasn’t had a losing season since he’s been a coach in Pittsburgh. Special teams has been excellent and coming through. They have the best defender in the league in TJ Watt. They have a solid two-headed monster in running backs between Jaylen Warren and Najee Harris. While they didn’t score a single point on offense or defense against Baltimore, they were able to score six field goals and still pull out the victory. They have a reliable kicker, which, with how poor kickers were in Week 11, including multiple kicks that were missed from inside 35 yards, is just so valuable and a difference maker. I think the Steelers can hang with and beat anybody.

This week the Ravens are facing a tough Chargers’ team that’s coming along very nicely and clicking both on offense and defense. Justin Herbert has emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the league this season and this is going to be another tough test for Baltimore. The Steelers get a Cleveland Browns’ team that is just hoping they can find a building block to start a foundation for the future in. 

The difference one game can make…  

If  I had written this prior to Thursday Night Football and watching the Steelers lose to the pitiful Browns I would have been writing all about how good the Steelers a were and how dominant their defense can be and about how the Steelers were about to take control of the AFC North all the way to the playoffs. But after watching that game and how they lost to the Browns I have to say they have some misuses both on offense and defense that need to be corrected.

Which, coincidentally, can also be said about the Raven…

Both teams are very good… both teams have their warts.

Leading me to predict that the AFC North is going to go down to the wire and the winner will be the team that overcomes their worst deficiencies first.

If have to predict a winner, I’d go with Lamar and Derrick and the Ravens

4) Right now, going into Week 12 of the season, who is the best QB in the NFL? Why?

Best quarterback in the NFL for this season is Josh Allen.

While I think that Patrick Mahomes is still the best quarterback overall in the league currently, if we’re just talking about this season, I have to give it to my MVP candidate in Josh Allen. He has the Chiefs’ number during the regular season, has been able to spread the ball around to all of his receivers, recently got a boost from the Amari Cooper acquisition, and didn’t skip a beat in missing Dalton Kincaid this week as they can just fill in Dawson Knox at tight end. Ray Davis has also played nicely in addition to James Cook in the backfield, with Davis having the big-play potential almost every play. We saw that a couple weeks ago in his 63-yard touchdown reception.

Jared Goff and Joe Burrow are also in this competition, especially with how Goff has the Lions’ offense humming this season. However, the Lions have shown that they don’t rely on Goff to score, as their entire team has been living up to top team in NFL category, with evidence by their victory over Tennessee where Goff had 85 passing yards. They also beat the Texans where Goff had five interceptions. 

If I can accept Bill Parcells’ maxim that teams are what their record says they are, then I can also accept the idea that while not always painting a complete picture, a player’s seasonal statistics pretty much tell me what type of player he is and what kind of year he is having…

Right now his 2024 stats read… 11 games; 64% completion rate; 2,543 passing yards; 316 rushing yards; 18 passing TDs against 5 INT, plus 5 TDs on the ground which leads me to declare… Allen is a damn good QB.

But those numbers, as I hinted to above, don’t tell the complete story…  

This season the Bills keep playing in a fair number of games where they have to find a way to win and the do… and Allen is more times than not the reason why  they are winning those games.

Versus the Chiefs in their most recent games Allen made with plays with both his arm and legs, keeping KC’s defense off kilter all afternoon. Among his highlights in the game were two excellent throws he down the sideline to Amari Cooper (who so far is doing wonders for Allen as a go-to receiver), including one pass that required Allen to step up into and face the oncoming defense before he released a perfect throw to Cooper.

Allen also led the Bills to two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, keeping the Bills in front of the Chiefs in a tight game before finally putting the kibosh on any potential Chiefs comeback that was capped off when with 2:17 in the game; fourth-and-2 Allen took off running on a wild and mesmerizing TD run including bouncing off two Chiefs defenders, to go 26 yards for the dagger TD that sealed the deal in the game for the Bills.  

The way Allen played in that Chiefs game.. he’s been doing that all season long. Allen right now is on fire and is the reason why the Bills are winning consistently and might have an actual chance to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs (where they are 0-3) and get to the Super Bowl this season.

Josh Allen is very arguably right now the best QB in the NFL as well as being a leading candidate to be this season’s MVP.

5) On Monday (11/18), the New York Giants pulled the plug on Daniel Jones as their starting QB and demoted him to third on the depth chart behind Tommy DeVito and Drew Locke, with DeVito scheduled to start the Giants next game versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

What are implications of this move for Daniel Jones as well as head coach Brian Daboll and GM Joe Schoen? Why?

And…

Are the Giants now locked in on taking a quarterback in the 2025 draft? Why or why not?

The implications of this are that Daniel Jones’ time as quarterback is done. They want to preserve any injury chance that Daniel Jones might have as playing quarterback for the organization in which an injury would allow his injury designation to kick in. The Giants know that Jones isn’t the answer at quarterback for them. They want to move on, and they need to figure out the best course of action for them.

The only reason that I’ve heard for starting Tommy DeVito over Drew Lock, is that Lock was injured for most of training camp and Brian Daboll wasn’t able to see what Lock had fully in training camp. They’re also familiar with DeVito from the time he played last season, so they somewhat know what they’re getting at quarterback coming into Week 12.

While the Giants are moving on from Daniel Jones at the quarterback position, I’m not too sure that they’re going to find their next franchise quarterback in the 2025 draft. There’s no sure thing in the draft this season. Shadeur Sanders likely won’t go to the Giants, nor will Deion Sanders be okay with his son going to this franchise that’s in disarray still. Cam Ward wasn’t really seen as draftable before this season, so is he reliable? How is Jalen Milroe as a passer, despite him being such a fantastic athlete? Carson Beck and Quinn Ewers have flattened out, including Ewers sitting behind Arch Manning for a little bit this season. The similar questions that are facing Shedeur Sanders on his ceiling are also facing Jaxson Dart. Riley Leonard is like a Daniel Jones and I’m very certain they don’t want to go that same route. So while I think they’ll enter the quarterback conversation for the 2025 draft, I don’t believe they’ll find their next franchise quarterback this year. 

The implications are that this it for Jones in a New York Giants uniform and playing QB for them.

Due a clause in his contract… if he suffered a season ending injury while on the field an injury guarantee would be triggered granting Jones $23 million for the 2025 season. By slotting him third on their depth chart, the Giants erased the risk of having to pay him $23 million next year.

Essentially the Giants, by this move told Jones he was done on the team.

Then today… Friday (11/22)… news broke that Jones was to be given his release from the team… first, by being put on waivers and then when no team claimed him (fat chance of that, due to the money still involved), any team could sign him for whatever they could negotiate with him for playing out the season.  

Best for them both in my opinion.

As for Daboll and Schoen… if they are still with the Giants after the mess they created with this team then I think the NFL needs to test the owners of the Giants for whatever they have been drinking and/or smoking.