This was Get Off The Mat Sunday around the NFL, especially in the AFC.
If you were an 0-2 team with a legitimate, or even semi-legitimate, shot at the postseason, you posted up and found a way to win. In most cases, it was unsightly, uneven and stuttered, and required a bit of luck or good fortune.
The Seahawks out-classed the Bears, finally, in the second half. The Eagles held on against the Jets after building a big lead. The Colts somehow escaped the Titans. The Texans were gifted a game by the Bucs on a series of kicking miscues.
The Bengals certainly tried to hand one to the Ravens, too. Cincinnati made bone-headed decisions and suffered breakdowns while failing to put the game out of reach in the first half. They allowed a bizarre TD on a fourth down and forgot how to tackle. Cincy seemed intent on making this a happy home opener for Baltimore.
But each time the Bengals handed it away, the Ravens handed it right back, resulting in a brutal 28-24 loss that left the Ravens the only winless team in their conference. Playoff hopes? This is not a good football team right now, and while the Ravens will win some games and won’t be among the dregs of the AFC when the season ends, this also continues to look like a big-time market correction year for one of the league’s perennial Super Bowl challengers.
They have massive issues on both sides of the ball, they have suffered a talent drain that has caught up to them, and, frankly, after having to pick so low in the draft for so long, the best thing for this organization might be a 5-11 season that allows them to re-stock through the draft.
While it’s not even October yet, I’m comfortable saying that they have glaring needs that will bleed into 2016. This coaching staff and front office is among the most accomplished in the game, and the Ravens won’t be down for long. But at 0-3, having to go on the road to Pittsburgh on Thursday night, and with long road trips looming at San Francisco and Arizona in October, they have dug themselves a hole that I don’t believe they will be able to fully overcome.
Obviously Thursday is must-win, though it helps to get the Steelers with Michael Vick under center and not Ben Roethlisberger. But the simple fact is this: the Ravens simply cannot match up with any of the more competent offensive teams in the league, and their margin for error is already scant.
Sunday exposed their issues again. Just like the week before in Oakland, they could never get a stop when they needed one once the game opened up in the second half. Their secondary is as brutal as it was a year ago and the loss of Terrell Suggs has sapped them of a pass rush and any remaining sliver of their swagger on D. They have no running game to speak of and the gamble that they could just go into the season with Joe Flacco, Steve Smith and a bunch of unknowns to catch the football has backfired -- quickly and badly.
If the Ravens still had a Ravens defense, they would have found a way to win at least one game thus far. When a lucky bounce negated a Tyler Eifert touchdown Sunday and Andy Dalton telegraphed an interception in the end zone and then held the ball to long resulting in a strip, sack and score -- that would have been enough. They wouldn’t have allowed A.J. Green to catch an 80-yard touchdown to immediately answer a Ravens’ score.
Their top corner, Jimmy Smith, wouldn’t have given up another TD to Green on the next drive on a fade in the end zone. With consistent pressure and the presence of future Hall of Famers like Ray Lewis and Ed Reed and Suggs for so long, Green doesn’t get 10 catches for 227 yards to go with those touchdowns.
This team is all about self-destruction. They accrued 11 penalties in the first 22 minutes alone, including several that extended drives and swung field position, learning nothing from their litany of similar errors from a week ago. In a league as tough and tight as this, you’d better adjust the following week.
On offense, new coordinator Marc Trestman has done nothing to be able to rekindle the rushing attack Gary Kubiak unearthed a year ago. The loss of left tackle Eugene Monroe has loomed large, and they sustain very little on that side of the ball. It’s telling that on a day Joe Flacco threw for 362 yards, 13 of his 32 completions went to Steve Smith (for 186 yards), while no one else in this cast of unproven talent had more than three catches or 44 yards. They have nothing close to resembling a legitimate complimentary receiver and if you are banking on Breshad Perriman being that guy whenever he gets back, well, don't hold your breath.
Even if Perriman, their first-round pick, is some sort of factor in the second half of the season, with Smith retiring, receiver remains a pressing need. Pass rush was already a huge need with Suggs and Elvis Dumervil nearing the end. And it’s clear a corner and safety remain a need, too.
With GM Ozzie Newsome never willing to spend big in free agency for a receiver before, and with the price of pass rush so ridiculous, the 2016 draft will be paramount. There is too much heart and too many bright minds and too much pride in that organization to have things go so bad that they pick in the top 10. But in the long run, having not been under .500 since 2007, before John Harbaugh arrived, and with this roster clearly in transition, such a finish might be just what they need to get back to where they are accustomed to being.
More news and notes from around the NFL:
Atlanta Falcons | |
| As for the Falcons, well, all I can do is tip my hat to rookie head coach Dan Quinn. He has this team turned around entirely from a physical standpoint from where it was. They have displayed great fortitude and determination in coming back from deficits, and the hiring of Kyle Shanahan as offensive coordinator looks absolutely inspired so far. In a weak NFC South, the Falcons and Panthers should have some interesting encounters ahead, and Atlanta suddenly seems up for the fight in terms of how tenacious it plays at the point of attack. And while I’m still not sure what to make of Devonta Freeman’s ridiculous day (30 carries for 141 yards and three TDs), I do know that Shanahan’s run scheme is pretty fool-proof and has already played a key role in reversing the Falcons’ fortunes. | |
Carolina Panthers | |
| I don’t think I could come up with three more appropriate MVP candidates than Cam Netwon for the month of September. He just keeps willing his team to wins and making things happen. His ability to spin away from the rush and extend plays is utterly maddening for defenses and he was stellar again Sunday. He looks like a quarterback about to step into real greatness. I have long admired his game and I love the way he is playing this season. | |
Dallas Cowboys | |
| Maybe I underestimated the impact of the Cowboys’ injuries. After a dominant first half against Atlanta their deficiencies showed up in a big way in the second half. The Falcons reversed the game entirely and began to dominate on both sides of the line. Dallas’ defense was suddenly suspect against the run and Matt Ryan totally carved them in the second half -- primarily just chucking it around to Julio Jones. Dallas must have its defense lead the way, and getting Greg Hardy and Rolando McClain should help, but that was not what I expected Sunday. As much as Brandon Weeden had a great start and might indeed throw the prettiest ball Jerry Jones has ever seen, I’d be getting Matt Cassel warmed up in the bullpen pretty quickly if I were coach Jason Garrett. | |
Indianapolis Colts | |
| I still have some reservations about the Colts even after that amazing win in Tennessee. Andrew Luck is still digging too big of holes and making poor decisions with the football and you can’t expect those fourth-quarter miracles too often. This game doesn’t work that way. The offensive line, despite some personnel changes, was a failure for most of Sunday and while you have to applaud the Colts’ gumption, I still wonder about the construction of this football team. | |
Minnesota Vikings | |
| The Vikings are finding balance in blending the Teddy Bridgewater, shotgun-heavy pass game, with Adrian Peterson in the power run game. Peterson had a second straight big day and carried 13 times for 50 yards in the first half alone -- all of them from a traditional alignment at the line of scrimmage and most often from his preferred I-formation. | |
Oakland Raiders | |
| How ‘bout those Raiders? I told you guys this would be a legit team this year. They shrugged off an utter embarrassment in the Week 1 home opener and have strung together two quality wins all of a sudden. First win in the East Coast since 2009? Not too shabby. Derek Carr gets better each week and suddenly this team makes plays to win in the fourth quarter rather than to give games away. I took a lot of crap on Twitter after Week 1 for predicting Oakland would win twice as many games as San Francisco, but, um, since then the Raiders are 2-0 and the 40ers are 0-2. Just sayin … | |
Philadelphia Eagles | |
| Consider me still an Eagles skeptic. Getting the win was huge and all of that, but that offense still doesn’t look the part to me. Sam Bradford is tentative and the tempo is missing and too often the ball is snapped with just a few seconds remaining (or none at all). It’s all fits and starts, and there was no killer instinct like we used to see from a Chip Kelly outfit. After getting up, 24-0, in the first half, they fell apart. They could not or would not go for the kill. The biggest plays came from the defense and special teams and it looked as if Kelly was just hoping his offense wouldn’t screw things up too badly. There is little electricity in the offense and Bradford, even in finally winning, completed just half of his passes for 118 yards and a ridiculous 4.2 yards per attempt (there are Pop Warner teams out-distancing that mark). It’s all screens and crossed fingers. Yes, the Eagles were facing a tough defense on Sunday, but the inability to run play-action and run-action (through zone-read handoffs with a quarterback who can actually move) might just doom them. Ryan Mathews looked like a better fit in the run scheme than DeMarco Murray has to this point -- on the bright side, I suppose -- but this is a work-in-progress in every sense and I have my suspicions about how well the defense is able to hold up over time if the offense can’t stay on the field and produce more yards and points. | |
Pittsburgh Steelers | |
| Add the Steelers to the list of teams to lose their quarterback for at least a chunk of the season, and look for coordinator Todd Haley to adjust the team’s scheme and identity with Michael Vick now starting. Ben Roethlisberger is expected to miss at least four weeks with MCL sprain, far better than some may have expected as the star passer was carted off the field. In the meantime, Pittsburgh has the personnel to recalibrate. They now have Le’Veon Bell to go with DeAngelo Williams in the run game and expect there to be ample work for both. Those huge plays to Antonio Brown will be few and far between -- that’s not Vick’s game anymore -- but look for plenty of bubble screens and underneath crossing patterns to Brown and others. Tight end Heath Miller will get plenty of work and the Steelers will try to sustain a ball control, intermediate-length offense until they get their top guy back. It won’t be sexy, and it will probably cost them a few games -- maybe even Thursday -- but I don’t believe it will tank their season by any extent. They’ve also quietly been better on defense the last few weeks. | |
San Diego Chargers | |
| The Chargers’ injuries and ineffectiveness along the offensive line looks acute enough to cast their season into question. Philip Rivers is no spring chicken and he’s getting pummeled way too often. Third down was like an ole' down in Minnesota on Sunday: Everyone was standing to the side of a bull rusher. I thought this team would make waves this season, but at 1-2 it’s at a crossroads. And I don’t like where they seem to be headed. | |
San Francisco 49ers | |
| Not sure I have seen a worse quarterbacking outing this season than what Colin Kaepernick put on film Sunday. Two early, horrible pick-sixes, each worse than the last. He continually threw off his back foot with no leverage or balance and when that didn’t work, he opted to throw off no foot on another pick. He just kind of wafted backwards into the air and chucked it up there. After a solid enough few weeks, this was troubling. The 49ers are going to have a long year, and I have to think Jim Harbaugh, as much as he loved his players there, is having a toast or two at the York’s expense on these lovely autumn nights in Ann Arbor. | |
St. Louis Rams | |
| Any truth to the rumor Stan Kroenke wants out of St. Louis so bad that he literally scorched the earth to try to get out? I mean, of course he didn’t intentionally have anyone set fire to the artificial field there during the pregame introductions. But I can’t help but wonder, with as much disdain as he has for that stadium and seemingly that market, if he didn’t chuckle a bit to himself during that delay. Once the game started the Rams looked pretty far removed from their Week 1 exploits and this Nick Foles experiment shan’t go well, thou doth supposeth. This team has been screaming out for a developmental QB since Sam Bradford’s development went south. | |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers | |
| The Bucs better hire a new kicker, immediately. The Texans remained a bumbling, baffling bunch on offense most of the day, Ryan Mallett could not get them in the end zone, and if not for Tampa’s horrible kicking game, Houston might still be looking for its first win. I get the trend of going with young cheap kickers -- but that they also have to be good. Rookie kicker Kyle Brindza missed three of his four field-goal attempts Sunday and is just five-for-nine on the season. He missed three field goals and an extra point in the second half alone, which played a huge part in Tampa losing a game in which its defense continually bended but mostly didn’t break. He hit from 58 yards, and you can see the leg strength that would impress, but either Lovie Smith needs to alter how often he is kicking field goals and what his strategy should be in certain quadrants of the field, or they might need to start auditioning replacements this Tuesday. This is nothing if not a cruel business. | |
Tennessee Titans | |
| Marcus Mariota wows me more each week. Sure, he made a few mistakes, but this kid does not rattle and he does not shrink and he damn near pulled off his own miracle Sunday. That was an amazing drive in the final minutes that included great poise under pressure from Mariota as the rookie found second and third options in the midst of a blitz. Watching him play Sunday, I could not help but have the same thought over, and over, and over -- Chip Kelly is a fool for not just giving the Titans what they wanted. He shoulda flipped Bradford to Cleveland for the 12th pick and packaged his two first-rounders and a few more selections and players to get his guy. The Eagles would be so much more dynamic and energized with him. With Kelly perhaps not all that long for the NFL, anyway, what the hell does he care about a few future picks? He was clearly trying to win right now anyway. Sometimes the worst trades are the ones you didn’t make. | |