1) I don’t care how tired people were of the Kansas City Chiefs’ dynasty or the Green Bay Packers being a thorn in the Chicago Bears’ side. No one wants to see Patrick Mahomes and Micah Parsons, two of the best players in the game, tear their ACLs on the same day. It’s terrible for the league, and it raises further questions about how teams and players prepare for the season.
2) How weird is it to see a Chicago Bears quarterback be run on every highlight reel because of a touchdown pass? Then again, a throw like the one Caleb Williams dropped in the bucket to DJ Moore deserves every bit of praise it’s getting. Because there’s no way that pass should’ve been completed. But it was.
3) There’s just no way 44-year-old Philip Rivers played that well after sitting on his couch collecting mold for four years. The fact that the only thing stopping Rivers from stealing an improbable win in his first game back was the Seahawks immediately stealing the lead back with a game-winning field goal of their own. No doubt about it: Rivers is going to tell his grandkids about that game someday. In fact… he probably already did.
4) What in the hell happened to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Going from undefeated early in the year and Baker Mayfield looking like an MVP candidate to Todd Bowles ripping his players a new one after an embarrassing choke-job against the Atlanta Falcons and not being able to put the Carolina Panthers away in the NFC South? Failures like this get coaches fired, and I’m sure Bowles is feeling the pressure. He’d better hope this team pulls it together, or I could see him being a surprise ouster this offseason.
5) Trevor Lawrence is on one. Sure, he did it against the Jets, but it’s nothing to sneeze at when you become the first player in NFL history with at least 300 passing yards, 50 rushing yards, five touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown in a single game, according to NFL Communications. We haven’t talked enough about the Jaguars as potential players in an AFC that no longer makes any sense. And if you think there’s no way they could win a playoff game…remember when they knocked Justin Herbert’s Chargers out of the playoffs after a first half where Lawrence threw four INTs? Anything can happen.
6) Josh Allen just re-inserted himself into the MVP chat with that comeback win against the AFC East-leading New England Patriots. Which is crazy, because his first half was completely miserable. But that’s the thing about great players: they don’t let the bad get them down. That might be the difference between Allen and Drake Maye, the man coming for his AFC East crown, right now. Allen has been through so many more ups and downs than Maye has, and it shows. Once the Bills adjusted in the second half, Maye got flustered and forgot how to take the easy stuff. But the young gun won’t forget this lesson. Their duels for the next half-decade or so will be fun.
7) I’ve talked a lot of smack about Bo Nix, and there were some annoying plays earlier in that Packers-Broncos game. But he had about as good a game as you can have, given the opponent and the stakes, throwing for 302 yards and four touchdowns to help Denver knock off those pesky Packers. The Broncos’ defense has largely carried the offense this year, but Nix proved he can hold his own when the defense needs support. Maybe that Broncos team is truly for real after all.
8) Watching Kyle Van Noy pick off that pass from Joe Burrow and hand it off to safety Alohi Gilman to run it back the rest of the way for a touchdown probably had Ed Reed crying tears of joy. He was the king of trying to score by any means necessary, whether it meant ripping the ball out of his teammates’ hands or lateraling it to someone else so they could keep the return going themselves. He would’ve been great at analytics; no matter the situation, he was always trying to score if he got the ball in his hands.
9) I really hate to say it because I love to see underdogs succeed. But Shedeur Sanders is bad. Sure, it’s probably mostly the Browns’ organization’s fault, because their overall dysfunction is truly remarkable. But there’s nothing about Sanders’ game that makes you think, “Man, that guy can be one of the best players in the game.” For all intents and purposes, he’s like an immobile Justin Fields. And we’ve already seen where that playing style lands you.
10) All I’m going to say is: Jim Harbaugh made the right move getting as far away from Michigan as he could before the house of cards completely collapsed, though his own actions likely precipitated the first cards falling. Plus, you can’t help but ask yourself what Harbaugh knew or didn’t know about Sherrone Moore from his hiring in 2018 to the time Harbaugh left in 2023. Because I have a hard time believing Harbaugh was completely in the dark. And if he wasn’t, why didn’t he do something about it? Don’t let Pablo Torre find out…
