NFL Week 6 - Impressions & Question

LA Rams Front Office

This one is quite obviously considering the Rams are the only undefeated team left in the NFL and for that reason alone they deserve a spot on the "impressive" list. They look pretty much unstoppable at the moment and there is no reason to believe that anyone within the NFC West stands a chance to overtake them and the division. As of today, the Rams are second in the NFL in scoring (196 points for), 1st in total offense (464.3 yards per game) and are also a top 10 defensive team in terms of points scored (118 points against) and yards against (344 yards per game). They have the complete package. Gurley continues to dominate as the best running back in the NFL, their offensive line manhandles opposing teams, and Goff looks to be the next best thing at quarterback. With all due respect to the players, credit needs paid towards the LA Rams front office. After a few bad years, the Ram's front office has put together such a great team. With Goff on such an affordable young contract, they have been able to land a great head coach, pay Gurley, bring in elite receivers, and continue to build their offense and defensive lines. It's borderline a perfect formula in today's NFL. Yes, the LA Ram's on-field product has been nothing short of impressive this year but the Ram's front office has been equally impressive on all fronts.

Aaron Rodgers

If you watched Monday night football you may have noticed that the Packers still have Aaron Rodgers. And to be frank, thats about all they have on offense at the moment. Nonetheless, Rodgers continues to find ways to win in the most improbable circumstances. Box score studying of Monday night's game would show you Rodgers had an impressive day throwing for 425 yards and 2 TDs to go along with a Packers win. However, watching the game would leave you almost in amazement. The dude literally has no one on offense right now worth a mention outside of Adams and Graham, yet he continues to will his team to victories. On Monday night the Packers were down by 7 to the 49ers with just minutes in regulation left. Aaron Rodgers got the ball back and instantly led his team down the field, play after play, to for a game tying TD. Many, including Rodgers at the time were hoping for overtime. Well, the Packers, following that possession were able to get the ball back with 1:07 in regulation left. Sure enough, Rodgers went to work leading the Packers on an 81 yard drive down the field. The throws he made were utterly insane, connecting time and time again with his receivers on the side line to preserve clock. They reached field goal range and the rest is now history. Mason Crosby connected on an easy 27 yard field goal to win the game and Aaron Rodgers added another impressive, carry the team on his back performance. Its both amazing and sad. Rodgers is an elite dominate QB that is playing on such a poor offense. The offensive line is bad, the receivers outside of Adams are bad, his coach is not making good calls but yet, Rodgers finds a way. Impressive in all regards.

Please Stop Overreacting to September Football

I don't think this headline quite fits within either the "impressions" or "questions" for this article but nonetheless needs to be mentioned. It's a pet peeve on mine. People, fans, commentators, experts, basically everyone always overreacts to the first few weeks of the NFL season and it bothers me. For example, after just 2 weeks of football we saw headlines regarding Patrick Mahomes as the best QB in the NFL and apparently an auto bid into the NFL Hall of Fame, we also saw headlines suggesting Tom Brady finally hit a wall and fell off an imaginary cliff coupled with the Patriots no longer are the team to beat in the AFC East let alone AFC in general, and the Steelers suck. Well let me tell you, the Patriots went on to basically destroy the Miami Dolphins to instantly reclaim the division and have won 3 in a row and the Patriots also beat the undefeated Chiefs and remain the team to beat in the AFC. The game against the Chiefs saw vintage Tom Brady lead his team down with no time to spare and claim a victory. The Steelers turned around their slow start, have won 2 in a row and beat the Cincinnati Bengals (division leaders). And although Patrick Mahomes continues to impress, come on, we need something more than a 6 game sample size. My point is simply relax. People need to stop trying to be "that guy" that calls the end of Brady or attempt to predict the outcome of a NFL season based on just a couple games. We have so much football to play and teams like the Patriots and Steelers always seem to start slow while teams like the Chiefs under Andy Reid always start hot and eventually fade. Like do we really think the Tennessee Titans, current AFC South division leaders, are the real deal? Don't embarrass yourself, its a solid no. Let the season continue to play out a bit more before making outlandous claims. Relax, enjoy the early season chaos, and lets see where we end up.

Jordan Howard

Jordan Howard broke into the NFL as a rookie in 2016 with over 1,300 yards and 6 TDs and then followed up his impressive rookie campaign with a 1,100 yard / 9 TD campaign in 2017. Looking at these stats and his work in Chicago, it's understandable that he would be high on most draft boards entering the 2018 season. However, for those fantasy players that drafted Howard this year, I feel your pain. Howard not only has had a really bad start to the season, he also is just not getting used. His best performance to date came in Week 3 where he rushed 24x for a measly 61 yards and a TD. For the season he has a total of 272 yards and 1 TD. He is only averaging a mere 3.5 yards a carry and outside of the Week 3 performance, has received no more than 15 carries in any given week. More surprisingly, it seems as though the Bears typical 3rd down back, Tarik Cohen is being used more and more as a traditional back. As a result, Jordan Howard's usage is decreasing at an alarming rate. Take for example Week 1-2, where Howard's playing time peaked at about 73%. Just last week, against the Miami Dolphins who are on the weaker side against the run, Howard's playing time registered at 51%. The signs aren't looking to good right now for Howard and his fantasy owners. Is it time to panic? I'm not sure about that as I think it is too early to make many calls but we need to see some improvement rather quickly. Jordan Howard remains a questionable fantasy decision going forward.

Cleveland Brown's Receivers

I have many die-hard Cleveland Brown friends that are going to hate me for writing this but would be in agreement with me at the same time. Say what you want about Baker Mayfield and what he brings to the table, but it really doesn't matter because the Brown's receivers are just flat out awful. They traded away a first round pick in Corey Coleman as well as their best receiver in terms of pure talent in Josh Gordon leaving behind Jarvis Landry and some random dudes off the street. The Brown's receivers just aren't skilled enough to get open and in the off chance they do, they aren't catching the ball. In fact, they rank 4th in the NFL in terms of most dropped pass with a total of 12 on the season. The Brown's TE Njoku is tied for 2nd in the NFL with 4 dropped passes while their receiver Callaway ranks 6th in the NFL with 3. Even Jarvis Landry, the sure handed short route safety receiver is having trouble connecting with Mayfield even though he continues to receive a huge target share each game. The dropped passes really don't paint the whole picture, just watch a game yourself and you will see just how bad of a corps they have running routes out there. They also just signed Breshad Perriman last week which by itself should show you just how desperate they are to find someone, anyone that can catch a live football. Baker Mayfield may be the real deal someday, but until he gets some help around him, its going to be a long season.

Thanks for checking out the article. I hope you enjoyed. Let me know your thoughts on Week 6 of the NFL season in the comments below and lets get ready for Week 7!