Sunday Coffee: NFL News & Notes Week 6
Did The Golden Age of QBs Pass By Our Very Eyes? Bo Marchionte Pontificates
By Bo Marchionte | @BoMarchionte
The NFL has made a living on mediocrity. You can date it back to the 1940s, when commissioner Bert Bell would personally spend months assembling the league schedule
The genius of Bell’s methodical process was based on the idea that every team draws attendance through winning. Hence, the projected below average teams would face off early before meeting the upper echelon of clubs later in the season. It brought the sense of success that would be short lived.
This year, the mediocrity has disappeared and has turned into a wider gap between the haves and the have nots. There were thirteen games played in Week 5, with one game decided by a field goal, while the other 13 games ended with an average win margin of 11.7 points.
At the conclusion of Week 5 and through Thursday Night Football in Week 6, there are six teams in the National Football League with one win or less. Amongst the one-win teams are the Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New York Giants and Arizona Cardinals—the Carolina Panthers remain the lone winless team.
When you look around the league, one glaring trait that many teams share is the lack of a quality signal-caller. It’s a topic sure to gain momentum. Let’s examine the list of recently retired quarterbacks and who the current starter is now; Tom Brady-to-Baker Mayfield, Ben Roethlisberger-to-Kenny Pickett, Philip Rivers-to-Justin Herbert, Eli Manning-to-Daniel Jones/Tyrod Taylor, Drew Brees-to-Derek Carr, Matt Ryan-to-Desmond Ridder, Andrew Luck-to-Anthony Richardson/Gardner Minshew and Josh Rosen, oops, just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.
That Hall of Fame caliber of quarterbacks allowed us to enjoy quite possibly one of the most dominant eras at the position. It places that much more emphasis on the 2024 NFL Draft QB Class expected to enter the National Football League next season.
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AFC EAST
Miami Dolphins (4-1)
Miami can be scary good offensively and unfortunately spooky bad defensively. The Dolphins are No.1 in the league in scoring. However, they rank 26th in points allowed per game and that’s not the recipe for success. They allowed 34 points to the Chargers and 48 points to the Bills; each of whom are considered playoff contenders. The Miami defense gave up 17 points to the New England Patriots, who scored 38 points in their other four games combined. A four-point win over the Chargers and lopsided victories over lousy teams such as the Patriots, Broncos and Giants should be somewhat concerning if the Dolphins truly want to be considered a force in the NFL.
Buffalo Bills (3-2)
The idea that the Bills had to travel to London to play the Jaguars, who remained overseas from the previous week's game felt a little odd in terms of competitive advantages. Buffalo wasn’t traveling to Jacksonville and non-destination in Florida, it was across the pond to Britain. No NFL team has played over in London more than the Jaguars who wrapped up their 11th game in the UK. Ironically, the NFL had the audacity to claim Jacksonville was the road team in this contest. If this was a text, I’d be putting the head shaking emoji several times.
New York Jets (2-3)
The best remedy for losing is to play the Denver Broncos. Zach Wilson got his tenth win at quarterback, improving his record to 10-17 as the starter in New York. The Jets finally unleashed second-year running back Breece Hall to the tune of 22 carries for 177 yards and one touchdown. It’s his second 100-yard rushing game of the season since tearing his ACL in October (24th) of last year. Hall’s success is still going to be predicated on Wilson continuing to play without mistakes and manage the New York offense with efficiency and smarts.
New England Patriots (1-4)
How bad is the New England offense? Philadelphia kicker Jake Elliott has put more points through the up rights than the Patriots offense has the entire season. Elliott’s 59 points is four more than the Patriots total points scored (55), which is also the same number of points by Texans kicker Ka’imi Fairbairn. The Patsies has been outscored 72-to-3 over the last two weeks and both sides of the football are in disarray. The current situation with quarterback Bailey Zappe reminds me of the fall out between Bill Belichick and former defensive back Malcolm Butler. Before Super Bowl LII, Butler was benched and in typical Belichick fashion it remained a secret. Zappe performed well last year but for whatever reason, Belichick seems hell bent of Mac Jones remaining the starter. Can the brilliant Hall of Fame coach no longer see that Mac Jones belongs under center?
AFC North
Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2)
Before heading into Acrisure Stadium Sunday to cover the Ravens versus Steelers, I tweeted that despite the gloom and doom hovering over the Black-and-Gold, a win would essentially put them in first place in the AFC North. They came from behind to win in the final moments of the game to prevail 17-10 over Baltimore. Pittsburgh still has plenty of unanswered questions heading into their Week 6 bye. The offense rallied late and scored a critical touchdown to take the lead. However, the strategy of having the defense intercept a pass with four minutes to go and then have offense drive 80-yards to get the go-ahead score, isn’t exactly the recipe for long-term success.
Baltimore Ravens (3-2)
While perusing through Lamar Jackson’s touchdown passes, something caught my eye. In three of the Ravens' games this season, Jackson has failed to throw a touchdown pass. Why did that catch my attention? From 2019 through Week 6 of the 2022 season, Jackson was basically a lock getting the football into the end zone via the pass. He had a magical stretch with at least one touchdown in 43 of those 48 games; he threw 91 touchdown passes for an average of 1.89 per game. Then something happened. Since Week 7 of last season, the production we’ve become accustomed to witnessing from Jackson has been derailed. Over his last 11 games, he has had six games without a touchdown pass; eight touchdown passes for an average of 0.727 touchdown passes per game. What does it all mean? I suppose, time will tell.
Cleveland Browns (2-2)
Cleveland isn’t completely on board with the trade of Deshaun Watson. The baggage he brought from Houston, along with the king’s ransom the Browns owed the Texans after acquiring him have left expectations deflated so far. Watson is 5-4 as the starter and did not play against the Ravens in Week 4, Kevin Stefanski told the media that Watson was medically cleared. It appeared Watson was poised to make his tenth start and aim to improve on his 5-4 record as the starter in Cleveland. Watson's injury kept him out (due to his choice), which created stir that Watson could have easily squashed with a win against the 49ers. Instead, new reports have surfaced that Watson may miss ‘several games,’ as spring league legend PJ Walker (4-3 as NFL starter) takes the saddle and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson returns as the backup.
Cincinnati Bengals (2-3)
The real Cincinnati Bengals offense finally arrived to play in Week 5 of the NFL season. Better late than never. Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase connected for three touchdowns, as Cincinnati has now won two out of their last three games. Burrow is 26-20-1 for his career as the starter and provided the Bengals with another 300-yard performance, the 17th of his career. He has a 10-6-1 record when passing for over 300 yards. Remember, Cincinnati began 0-2 a year ago, before rattling off 12 wins in the final 14 regular season contests. The state of Ohio has two NFL organizations that are trending in vastly different directions.
AFC South
Indianapolis Colts (3-2)
The Colts signed running back Jonathan Taylor to a lucrative contract moments after he was activated from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. Taylor is a super talented running back and his production in his first three seasons is outstanding, with 3,859 rushing yards and 33 touchdowns. However, one thing has become crystal clear - There is no need to overpay running backs. Especially with the way Colts Zack Moss has performed this season and offered Indianapolis the option to acquire draft capital or talent by trading the disgruntled Taylor. His bizarre behavior and trade demands leading up to Week 1 would have left a sour taste in my mouth, if I was ownership. We’ve come to learn that the money invested doesn’t necessarily translate into positive dividends. We could see history repeat itself (see; Todd Gurley, Zeke Elliott) in a year or two when the Colts are eyeing a cheaper situation.
Jacksonville Jaguars (3-2)
Trevor Lawrence has started every game since his rookie season of 2021 is 15-24 as the Jaguars starter. The 3-14 debut under former head coach Urban Myer, who lasted 13 games before being canned during Lawrence’s rookie year, gives the third-year quarterback a pass on his development. Under the tutelage of Doug Pederson, we’ve seen significant improvement in Lawrence who has since one 12-10 with his new coach. After throwing 17 interceptions to lead the league in his rookie year, he’s thrown just 10 overt last two seasons. That encompasses 764 passing attempts and 30 touchdown passes. Against Buffalo last week, he completed 75 percent of his passes en route to beating the red-hot Buffalo Bills.
Houston Texans (2-3)
Since 2020, the Texans have 13 combined wins and two of those victories came this year with back-to-back victories. Houston was trying to win three in a row versus Atlanta this past Sunday but the Falcons won a close game 21-19. The team is one win away from tying the three wins from last season and two victories away from matching the four wins the Texans won in both 2020 and 2021. We’ve witnessed glimpses of success early on in 2023 and one can only think that this team has the potential feel of the AFC version of the Detroit Lions.
Tennessee Titans (2-3)
The Titans were 7-3 to open the 2022 season and now find themselves losers of ten of their last 12 games. Tennessee is at the crossroads of sinking into the bottom tier of the league if they’ve not already arrived. The Titans began last year 2-3 and won five out of their next six games before the wheels fell off. We’ve seen this team unable to stack wins. Head coach Mike Vrable has been here before and what makes the evaluation of Tennessee so tricky is the way the Titans go on streaks both in wins and losses since he took over in 2018. Vrabel led winning streaks of four (2018), three (2019), five (2020), six, three and two (2021) and five (2022). Unfortunately for Vrabel and his Titans, he ended 2022 with seven straight loses that extended to eight with the Week 1 loss in 2023 to the New Orleans Saints. This looks like a titanic sink job.
AFC West
Kansas City Chiefs (5-1)
The Chiefs have won five in a row since losing in Week 1 to the Lions 21-17. Kansas City is a game better than they were at this point after six games last season (4-2) but offensively they aren't as ferocious as usual. In 2023, they scored 147 points with one game above 30 points (41) and last year they had 176 points after six games with three of those games exceeding 30 points or more (30,41,44). However, the defense is currently ranked 2nd in the league in points allowed per game (88), after giving up 127 points in Kansas City’s first six games of last season. In a nutshell, the offense is just a tad off now, while the defense is playing as good as any defense in the NFL.
Los Angeles Chargers (2-2)
I wonder if Brandon Staley is spending his bye week playing Madden going for it on fourth-and-40 on his own 10-yard line in preparation for their Week 6 game against Dallas on Monday Night Football. He makes Ron “Riverboat” Rivera look conservative in his play calling. Staley has elected to leave his offense on the field in their last two games and both conversions failed. Despite not converting the play into a first down, Staley’s and his Chargers were able to escape with wins. Standing at 2-2 and possessing one of the most talented quarterbacks in the league in Justin Herbert, his gambling ways better continue to pay off or he’ll soon be laid off (terminated).
Las Vegas Raiders (2-3)
The Raiders beat a lousy Packers product Monday night 17-13. The game was ugly but one thing that wasn’t was the young lady sitting next to Las Vegas owner Mark Davis. The television camera kept peeking into the private suite of Davis and it caused a media frenzy. Her name is Orianthi, a 38-year-old Australian singer and songwriter. A guitarist for Alice Cooper and the late Michael Jackson gives her real credentials in the rock-n-roll universe. If she is more than just a guest of Mr. Davis, then her street cred takes a big hit.
Denver Broncos (1-5)
Watching the Broncos after six weeks, I’m as clueless as ever to how good or bad this team really is. Denver is minus five in turnover differential and their miscues have been extremely costly. Russell Wilson had thrown only two interceptions prior to the pair he threw against the Chiefs in the Broncos 16-8 defeat. The team has lost six fumbles, which is tied with Baltimore for 31st in the league (only the Vikings are worse with eight lost fumbles). Not sure how many more weeks I can defend this team but I’m not convinced they’re on the same level as the other one-win or fewer teams in the league.
NFC East
Philadelphia Eagles (5-0)
The only Eagles MVP in the award's 66-year history is nine-time Pro Bowler Norm Van Brocklin, who won it in 1960 - his final season, which coincided with the Eagles winning the NFL Championship. Jalen Hurts performance in the Eagles 23-14 win over the Rams put him in serious consideration after five weeks of action in the NFL. He threw for 303 yards, along with one touchdown and one interception and became the workhorse of their ground attack. Hurts carried the football 15 times, leading all runners on both sides of the ball with 72 yards (long of 17), with one score. If Hurts continues to play like this, he’ll be the second Philadelphia quarterback to be named league MVP.
Dallas Cowboys (3-2)
I’ve tried to look at the Cowboys offense through rose colored glasses but after the way Dak Prescott performed against the 49ers and the way he was unable to get points in the end zone when in the red zone against the Cardinals, there should be cause for major concern in Big D. Convincing wins over the Giants, Jets and Patriots have only convinced me that they’ve beaten zero quality football teams and San Francisco completely humiliated defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s defense. The Cowboys have allowed 13 points in their three wins and a whopping 70 in their two losses. Dallas won’t be able to hide much longer underneath the masquerade of being great against lousy teams.
Washington Commanders (2-3)
Losers of three straight games and embarrassed at home to give Chicago their first win of the season 40-20, intensified discussion of head coach Ron Rivera’s future with the Commanders. I hate saying that because his 24-30-1 record in the nation’s capital is impressive, considering he’s never had much of a roster to work with and dealt with former owner Daniel Synder, until Josh Harris bought the team for $6.05 billion earlier this May. For all the good he’s done, the results thus far in 2023, leave a lot to be desired defensively. Rivera’s calling card is to be able to coach up the defense. Accordingly, the organization spent lavishly with draft capital up front on players Jonathan Allen (2017), Daron Payne (2018), Montez Sweat (2019) and Chase Young (2020). Washington currently has given up the second most points in the league, leaving the door open for a potential switch to Eric Bieniemy, who has the title of assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.
New York Giants (1-4)
The Giants offense or lack thereof always revolves around quarterback Daniel Jones. Last year, New York came out of nowhere to make the playoffs for the first time in six years—back when Odell Beckham Jr. was still playing in Gotham. Last season, the Giants finished with the least number of interceptions (six) and after five games have already equaled that number. In 2022, the team averaged 201 yards passing per game, with 30.5 attempts per game. One year later, nearly identical numbers exist with an average of 195.2 yards per game and 33.2 attempts per game. The numbers from 2022-to-2023 mirror each other but it’s the number of sacks being allowed that have, in my opinion, caused New York such headaches. In 2022, the Giants allowed 49 sacks for an average of 2.88 per game and this season the unit has surrendered a league leading 30 sacks; an average of six per game. Jones takes so much blame for everything wrong with the Giants but ask yourself what quarterback would succeed in these types of conditions. If you answer honestly – None.
NFC North
Detroit Lions (4-1)
It’s time to put Lions second overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft Aidan Hutchinson in the same category amongst the elite defenders in the National Football League. The Michigan native has exceeded expectations in the 22 games he’s played thus far in Detroit. Hutchison has 14 sacks, four interceptions and most importantly they’re winning. In his rookie season, Detroit finished above .500 (9-8) for the first time since 2017, when the team finished 9-7. Currently, the Lions are 4-1 and look like a team that will host a playoff game after they wrap up the NFC North division.
Green Bay Packers (2-3)
Jordan Love has the worst completion percentage out of every starting quarterback in the league at 55.6 percent. His 77.3 percent passer rating ranks 27th, which is only better than five other quarterbacks. That includes Daniel Jones (71.7), Zach Wilson (73.4), Mac Jones 74. 2), Ryan Tannehill (75.8) and Bryce Young (77). Love was sensational in the first two weeks of the season, compiling a quarterback rating of 118.3, with six touchdowns passes and zero interceptions. Over the course of his last three outings, Love has struggled at the position. His impressive quarterback rating took a nosedive down to 56.1 percent with an ugly performance in his last game, going 16-of-30 for 182 yards and three interceptions. That rung up a disappointing 32.2 quarterback rating. The more Love has played, the worse he is getting.
Chicago Bears (1-4)
It took Washington's defense to make the Bears offense look awesome. The Bears scored 40 points on the Commanders last Thursday, routing Washington by 20 points on the road. The last time the Bears scored 40 points or more was in Week 16 of the 2020 season, when Chicago defeated the Jaguars 41-17 and finished the season with an 8-8 record. Since that time, the Bears haven’t mustered much of an offense and have compiled a 10-31 record (including playoffs) over that span. Maybe, just maybe, if the Bears offense continues to play well, they can get close to those eight victories they achieved in 2020.
Minnesota Vikings (1-4)
The Vikings were 4-1 at this time last year and now find themselves buried at the bottom of the NFC North with the Bears. Minnesota has scored 110 points (22 points per game) and allowed 122 points (24.4 points per game) in their attempt to defend their NFC North crown. At the same time last season, the Vikings scored 115 points (23 points per game) and allowed 115 points (20.4 points per game). It just goes to show that this is really a game of inches that can drastically change the fortunes of a franchise. Nearly all the numbers are identical except for the win loss column in Minnesota. Amazingly, they won 11 games last season by one score or fewer.
NFC South
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1)
The Buccaneers come out of their Week 4 bye week to face the red-hot Detroit Lions. Baker Mayfield’s resurgence has helped Tampa Bay to remain in the hunt for the NFC South title but more importantly is the stingy defense that resides in the sunshine state. Ranked eighth in the league in points allowed, Todd Bowles has a youthful bunch playing very sound football. The Bucs are +7 in turnover differential department tied with the 49ers. That’s good company to keep considering San Francisco is 5-0 and Tampa Bay has one loss.
New Orleans Saints (3-2)
In Sean Payton’s last year as head coach of the Saints in 2021, the defense finished fourth overall in points allowed allowing 19.7 points per game. Then defensive coordinator Dennis Allen took over as head coach in 2022 and the defense took a slight dip (20.3 points per game), to finish ninth in the league. In 2023, Allen has his defense once again looking like one of the league’s top units. Ranked fourth once again and allowing 15.7 points per game; more than a field goal better than two years ago. How significant is that 15.7? We must go back to 1992 when Jim Mora was head coach to witness a Saints defense that’s allowed fewer points (12.6) than the one currently in New Orleans. Twelve more games remain on the schedule but folks should talk notice of how well Allen has this unit playing in 2023.
Atlanta Falcons (3-2)
In last week’s post this was said - ‘The Falcons need a quarterback unless an abrupt about-face by second year quarterback Desmon Ridder unfolds quickly’ – In his ninth start in the league no one expected Ridder to post a 300-yard passing game (329) and go vertical on the Texans with a 21-19 win over Houston. It marked the first time a Falcons quarterback threw for over 300-yards since Matt Ryan passed for 343 in Week 9 of the 2021 season. That’s a span of 29 games without exceeding the positional plateau statistic for quarterbacks. It also marked the first time that Drake London and Kyle Pitts got involved in the run-happy offense usually executed in Atlanta.
Carolina Panthers (0-5)
The Panthers are the only team in the division without three wins, or we could say they’re the only team in the league without a single win. Frank Reich is 3-10-1 over his last 14 games as a head coach between Carolina and Indianapolis, where he was fired after nine games into the 2022 season. I hate to keep harping on the same topic but until more people recognize that Steve Wilks went 6-6 in Carolina last year when he took over for Matt Rhule (who was canned with a 1-4 record after five games into the 2022 season), it needs to be brought to the limelight. If Reich rebounds in a remarkable way, I’ll applaud the achievement but until then I’ll stew over the firing of Wilks, who has his 49ers defense ranked No. 1 in the league to help preserve San Francisco’s perfect record (5-0).
NFC West
San Francisco 49ers (5-0)
Kyle Shanahan has this real rolling! The Rams are the only team to be somewhat competitive on the scoreboard losing to the 49ers 30-23, after being tied 17-17 at halftime in San Francisco’s Week 2 win over Los Angeles. In the 49ers’ other four games, they’ve outscored their opponents 13-to-45. It’s a 23-point margin of victory in those four games. They travel to Cleveland this weekend and the Browns faithful are hyped in the challenge of new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz devising a scheme to try and stop the top team in the NFL.
Seattle Seahawks (3-1)
Russell Wilson was 6-8 as the starting quarterback in Seattle during his last year with the Seahawks in 2021. His replacement Geno Smith is 13-9 since Wilson was traded to the Denver Broncos. Wilson is 5-15 since arriving in Denver leaving and looking smart for unloading the 34-year-old quarterback for a hefty return while he was still considered one of the elite passers in the National Football League.
Los Angeles Rams (2-3)
In 2020, the Rams had two second round selections in the NFL Draft. The first of those selections was Cam Akers, who was traded to the Minnesota Vikings on September 21st and this week the Rams other second round pick Van Jefferson was traded to the Atlanta Falcons. The Rams will receive a conditional sixth-round pick in 2026 and the Vikings will get a conditional seventh-round pick in 2027 from the Akers deal. In the Jefferson trade, the Rams will swap 2025 late-round picks - sixth and seventh rounders. Each of them played in the Rams Super Bowl LVI 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, so while their current value has no value, they were part of a Super Bowl winning team and wearing that ring at the end of the day.
Arizona Cardinals (1-4)
The losses are mounting but at least the Cardinals are playing hard. Most likely the season is going to be a lost cause but I’ll continue to show support for rookie head coach Jonathan Gannon for getting this bunch to believe. That leads me to Kyler Murray who currently is on the PUP (Physically unable to perform) list. Since 2019, there have been 16 quarterbacks selected in the first round, including Murray. Not counting the four quarterbacks taken over the last two years in round one, the list of others taking snaps isn’t much better than Murray’s 25-31-1 record. The records of the others follow: 2019 - Daniel Jones (22-35-10), Dwayne Haskins (3-10); 2020 - Joe Burrow (26-20-1), Tua Tagovailoa (25-14), Justin Herbert (27-26), Jordan Love (2-4); 2021 – Trevor Lawrence (15-29), Zach Wilson (9-17), Trey Lance (2-2), Mac Jones (17-19, Justin Fields (6-24). Maybe Gannon can salvage something out of Murray and change the perception that the team needs to draft a quarterback in the 2024 NFL Draft.