NFL Week 3: The Daniel Jones Era begins

OOP-
Until I looked it up I thought the year after Super Bowl XL was Pittsburgh's worst season in the Cowher/Tomlin combined era.
When Roethlisberger had the appendicitis and the bike crash.
I think this is a 5-11 team at worst.

 

So who are the good teams (besides the Patriots)?

 

In the AFC: Chiefs, Texans, maybe the Ravens, and that's about it. There are a couple of others that will make a run at a wild card (Chargers, Colts, Bills, maybe the Browns), but it's pretty obvious they'll be dead men walking going into Foxborough or Arrowhead in the divisional round.

In the NFC: Cowboys, Rams and Saints (with Brees). Maybe the Packers and Vikings.
The Eagles are a wild card team at best. The 49ers might take advantage of a fast start and a weak schedule to go 11-5, maybe even win the division, but they're this year's team that does that and then loses in the second round.

The five or six contenders seem to be separating themselves pretty early this year. About half the league already appears to obviously fall into the category of 7-9 or worse, and maybe six or seven more are looking at 9-7.

 

The Chiefs defense is definitely a work in progress with a new coordinator and a bunch of new players, and they must improve against the run because that's their biggest weakness right now. If' the defense even becomes slightly below average (say, top of the bottom third), that's enough because Mahomes and the offense are the class of the league.

 

Packers defense looks legit. They have had some trouble with big cutback runs but that has always been an issue with Ryan/Pettine defense. I don't follow NFL much recently other than Packers but I think they have legit star/superstar guys on defense. Kenny Clark is an absolute stud on D line. He will be a star. The Smith boys are playing extremely well but not stars. Alexander may be the best corner in the league very soon. Absolutely a stud cover corner that likes contact (see the tackle/strip of Fant yesterday). King is an extremely gifted and talented corner but needs to stay healthy and Savage will be the best safety in the league very soon. Offense is behind but if #12 stays healthy they will be fine.

 

Quote of the year...

 

This is one of the best things I have ever seen. Classic!!!!

 

Awesome and classy response. He’s too good for Philly.

 

This seems like a good time to remind everyone that the Redskins have won seven games in a row against the Bears since 2003.
The Redskins are also are 1-16 at home on Monday Night Football since 1998, and 2-15 overall in primetime games since 2008.
One of these trends seems like it's about to end in a big way.

 

Oh please Tess, no need to suck up to the Skins. They are a horrible organization.

 

The 1999 team that went 6-10 was probably Cowher's worst. That was a second-consecutive losing season and as close as he ever game to his job being in jeopardy. By 2001, he had them back in the AFC Championship game.

The last team with a losing record was 2003, which got them a high enough draft choice to take Roethlisberger in the first round in 2004. The 2006 team you mentioned was Cowher's final season. They finished 8-8, but that was after a 2-6 start to the season buried them. Roethlisberger probably should have been on the bench at least the first month of that season because he clearly wasn't healthy after the motorcycle accident and the appendectomy right before the season. He really didn't get his act together until week eight or so, and by then it was too late.

It has been over 30 years since the Steelers finished with fewer than six victories. They were 5-11 in 1988, when Chuck Noll was still coaching the team.