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Lazuli  2mo ago (text post)   556 thread views

Weekly NFL Thread: Week 5

Let's chat about the National Football League. This week's schedule (all times Eastern):

Sun 2024-10-06 9:30AM New York Jets @ Minnesota Vikings
Sun 2024-10-06 1:00PM Buffalo Bills @ Houston Texans
Sun 2024-10-06 1:00PM Carolina Panthers @ Chicago Bears
Sun 2024-10-06 1:00PM Cleveland Browns @ Washington Commanders
Sun 2024-10-06 1:00PM Indianapolis Colts @ Jacksonville Jaguars
Sun 2024-10-06 1:00PM Miami Dolphins @ New England Patriots
Sun 2024-10-06 1:00PM Baltimore Ravens @ Cincinnati Bengals
Sun 2024-10-06 4:05PM Arizona Cardinals @ San Francisco 49ers
Sun 2024-10-06 4:05PM Las Vegas Raiders @ Denver Broncos
Sun 2024-10-06 4:25PM Green Bay Packers @ Los Angeles Rams
Sun 2024-10-06 4:25PM New York Giants @ Seattle Seahawks
Sun 2024-10-06 8:20PM Dallas Cowboys @ Pittsburgh Steelers
Mon 2024-10-07 8:15PM New Orleans Saints @ Kansas City Chiefs
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The Ravens (2-2) gave the bills (3-1) a whooping they won't soon forget. It certainly helps to have a 6'3", 240-pound running back plow through a relatively weak defensive line.

Man, that game totally scrambled any attempt to have power rankings. This whole week, really. What team is left that we have confidence in? Who are the elite this year?

The Chiefs are number one as long as they're undefeated and have Mahomes, but Mahomes managed to injure his own.best remaining WR after a collision following an interception. It's like Kansas City is running an experiment to see how far they can push Mahomes before he can't carry them.

The Bills were looking good before the Ravens game. Now they're looking more like, well, the Bills: occasionally transcendent and occasionally unworkable.

The Niners are banged up and have scuffled. The Jets have looked bad, running hot and cold with old man Rodgers. The Vikings are looking talented, but do we really have faith in The Darnold? The Bucs have looked good against most teams but got blown out by the Broncos. The Packers have looked good but got beaten up by the Vikings and the Eagles, at least one of whom sucks.

Basically every team we think is good has lost to a team we know is bad. Parity, I guess, though I think when we imagine parity we tend to picture 32 competent teams that play tight well planned games against each other, rather than 32 incompetent teams that all play sloppy error-fests.

Vikings are looking talented, but do we really have faith in Darnold?

I do given his supporting cast is, for a quarterback, as good as any other in the league. I think there is a bit more lag in how long it takes for offensive linemen to receive recognition, and Darrisaw is putting high first-round edge talent on milk cartons (Thibodeaux, Anderson, Bosa).

O’Neil has been well above average, opposite. That leaves the interior to help one another out unless the defense sends five-plus. Darnold has ample time.

Jefferson is elite. Addison is an underrated deep threat. Nailor is an above average no. 3. Teams have been bracketing Jefferson with regularity, but the offense is rolling because Addison/Nailor are more than up to the task of winning one-v-one. And Hockenson will be back sometime this month to make things even harder for opponents.

Mattison was terrible last year. Jones is credible enough to open up playaction.

One of the things that has been very encouraging is Darnold hasn’t been perfect, but he’s shown he can shake off the odd bad rep. A dropped pick against Green Bay, an inaccurate pitch against Houston, and the next play is a completion and the drive keeps rolling.

Plus, from the eye test, the arm talent is still there. The backshoulder on Jefferson’s touchdown last week was pinpoint.

What team is left that we have confidence in?

I'd say the Vikings.

The Chiefs are number one as long as they're undefeated and have Mahomes, but Mahomes managed to injure his own.best remaining WR after a collision following an interception. It's like Kansas City is running an experiment to see how far they can push Mahomes before he can't carry them.

The Chiefs are riddled with injuries, and Mahomes is past his prime in terms of leadership and ability. He'll have a good, not a great, season at this rate. Three-time Super Bowl champs? Unlikely.

I think the Lions have looked pretty convincing in all of their games. They haven’t had any embarrassing stinkers yet.

Their 20-26 loss against the Rams, a 1-3 team now, in their season opener, at home, is pretty embarrassing.

They are, however, looking much better going into Week 5.

The Rams weren’t missing half their receiving corps in that game.

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