Week 2 of the NFL may have been a disappointment for Jarryd Hayne but overall it was another exciting week of action.
This week we will go wrestling with Lions and enter a shootout with Cowboys as we look back on the Sunday that was – and look forward to what lies ahead for both Detroit and Dallas.
The Detroit Lions are an interesting team to follow. Ever since they went 0-16 in 2008 the team has been in limbo. They’ve had some good years and some bad years, they’ve had some terrible coaching and some slightly better coaching and they’ve had some good quarterback play and some bad quarterback play.
Matthew Stafford typifies the past seven years for the Detroit Lions. He has found himself in no-man’s land of NFL quarterbacks, not quite elite but definitely not bad. Stafford has threatened to elevate himself into the elite group for a number of years but hasn’t quite got there. He’s shown flashes of brilliance from time to time, but his overall body of work isn’t there yet.
Simply taking a look at Stafford’s numbers makes his status as not-yet-elite pretty clear. A career completion percentage of 59.7% and touchdown to intercept ratio of 1.52 (133 touchdowns and 87 picks) are pretty comparable to Jay Cutler, 61.6% completion rate and 1.4 TD-Int ratio, and Matt Schaub, 63.9% completion rate and 1.5 TD-Int ratio.
Those two players are not exactly considered elite. Perhaps most concerning for Stafford is that his numbers have remained pretty similar his entire career. It’s pretty safe to say that Stafford will stay the same quarterback with very similar stats for the remainder of his career. In saying that, his numbers are slightly better than Eli Manning – a man who has won two Super Bowls.
It is certainly not out of the realm of possibilities that Stafford will one day play in a Super Bowl. He just needs a solid supporting cast. An outstanding defence, a strong running game and an offensive line that can keep him upright. Stafford had the first aspect of that supporting cast last season but not the other two.
Even with the 21st ranked offensive line and second worst running back in the league, both stats per Football Outsiders, the Lions made the playoffs and may well have gone deep had it not been for a controversial pass interference non-call.
Unfortunately for the Lions they still don’t have much of an offensive line, it appears as though their running game continues to be non-existent and their defence has regressed thanks to a number of key free agency departures.
The loss of Nick Fairley and Ndamukong Suh certainly hurts their ability to pressure the quarterback and slow the running game but they have still managed to record three sacks over the past two weeks. Defensive end Ezekial Ansah has been responsible for two of those sacks and he remains a key figure in the defensive line.
The Lions had the number one run defence in the competition last season and that will certainly change this year without the likes of Fairley and Suh. But if the pass defence is able to improve it should offset this decline. The early signs are not good. Phillip Rivers torched the team for over 400 yards last weekend and this week their inability to slow Adrian Peterson allowed Teddy Bridgewater to protect the football and throw just 18 passes, completing 14 of those for 153 yards and a touchdown.
Stafford can no longer rely on his defence to win this team games. He is going to put the team on his shoulders and carry them to the playoffs. When you have Megatron on your team anything is possible but based on what we’ve seen from Stafford over the past few years, I fear his inconsistency and propensity to mix the really good with the really bad will ultimately cruel this team’s playoff chances in a very tough division.
I can’t see them winning 9 of their last 14 games. Their schedule includes the AFC and NFC West, two tough divisions, and a visit to the Superdome.
Moving on to the Dallas Cowboys and just a few hours ago my plan for this section looked very different to what it look likes now. That of course, is because Tony Romo has fractured his left collarbone, an injury that forced him to miss ten games back in 2010. Let’s put it simply, the Cowboys are in big trouble.
Already without star wide receiver Dez Bryant, who was sorely missed against Philadelphia, for six to eight weeks, the Cowboys will struggle if Romo is out for an extended period of time. This is because the Cowboys backup quarterback is a man who was drafted by the Browns, made his NFL debut as a 29-year-old and has thrown more intercepts than touchdowns in his career – Brandon Weeden.
Weeden is not a franchise quarterback, the Browns learnt that pretty quickly, and he will definitely struggle as the Cowboys starter. And there’s really not a free agent quarterback who the Cowboys can sign with any comfort. Matt Flynn, Josh Freeman and Tim Tebow currently highlight the group and I can’t see Dallas turning to any of those men, although Jerry Jones has been known to do some pretty crazy things.
If Weeden is to remain the starter there are a few things the Cowboys can do to make it work. Firstly, their offensive line has to maintain their already elevated levels of performance. They must give Weeden a chance to stand in the pocket and more through his progressions.
Secondly their running game, led by Joseph Randle and Darren McFadden, must lead the offence. They have been respectable over the past two weeks but they will need to be more than that to survive without Romo.
Finally, they need to ensure Weeden throws short, safe throws. Lots of screens, out routes, shallow crosses and slants. Low risk plays. If Weeden can control the football he won’t need to constantly make the big plays that Romo often makes. But Weeden will need support and that must come from his teammates. Look for Jason Witten to quickly become Weeden’s best friend. Assuming Witten overcomes two ankle strains and a knee strains in time for next week.
The Cowboys were lucky that they were playing an absolutely atrocious Philadelphia Eagles team on Monday. The Fox commentary team of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman labeled it one of the worst Eagles performances that they have ever witnessed. They were right; it was a stinker of a game. The Cowboys defence put the Eagles to the sword. Their penetration at the line of scrimmage was superb all game. Philadelphia recorded a total of seven yards rushing. Seven. They ran the ball 17 times.
The Eagles struggles largely occurred because the Dallas defensive line was able to push through the offensive line and flood the backfield. Yes there was plenty of poor blocking going on by the Eagles but you can only play what’s in front of you and the Cowboys front seven absolutely dominated those in front of them.
With Romo out there will be a lot of pressure on the defence to suffocate their opposition, as they did in Philadelphia. Against the Buccaneers and the Falcons this may be possible, but it will be a much tougher proposition against New England, Seattle and New Orleans in New Orleans, teams the Cowboys will likely face without Romo.
The Cowboys are lucky that they are currently playing in one of the worst defences in football. If Detroit were to lose Stafford for an extended period of time it would be season over for the Lions. We can’t yet make that declaration for the Cowboys.
At 2-0 they hold a one game lead over Washington and two game lead over Philly and New York. If they remain mediocre and beat the bad teams over the next two months, Romo may be able to return and lead the team to the playoffs. 9-7 should win this division, they have two of those wins already and they’re likely to win four of their last five. Weeden only needs to three games and they’ve made it to nine.
Hey, supercoach? Choose your own ultimate NFL team and compete with other players for cash prizes in daily competitions on any match. If you’re after the best odds on the NFL, PlayUp is your best bet. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
The extraordinary episodes after his life as an American Football hero quite overshadowed the career of O.J. Simpson, who has died at the age…
The Kansas City Chiefs, steered brilliamtly at the end by star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, downed the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime to secure…
San Francisco 49ers will make their eighth appearance in the Super Bowl after a stellar season from a team stacked with real talent across the whole line-up.
The Chiefs are no longer strangers to playing matches in February. What was once a multi-generational 50-year drought has become an almost yearly tradition.
Daniel Faalele and Mitch Wishnowsky have kept their Super Bowl dreams alive, with Baltimore and San Francisco winning the divisional round playoff.
Six-time NFL champion Bill Belichick has agreed to part ways as the coach of the New England Patriots, bringing an end to his 24-year…
