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It is Week #9 in the NFL. We are about halfway through the 2024 pro football season.
The NFL’s top teams this fall are, generally, most of the same playoff teams as last year.
Two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City is the only unbeaten team entering this week’s play at 7-0. Though I infamously predicted that KC will not win it all again this season, the Chiefs are making me look bad nearing the halfway mark.
In the AFC, perennial contenders Buffalo and Pittsburgh are currently 6-2 with Baltimore right behind at 5-3. The Houston Texans (a surprise team last season) are perched atop the AFC South at 6-2.
Heading into this weekend, the NFC is led by last year’s playoff darlings, the Detroit Lions, at 6-1. Right behind are 2023 playoff teams Green Bay (6-2) and Philadelphia (5-2).
In 2024, there are a few “surprise” teams to watch. The Washington Commanders are now 6-2 and leading the NFC East. Washington’s rookie quarterback, Jayden Daniels from LSU, has shown great skills and solid leadership to help boost confidence on his team.
Likewise, the Minnesota Vikings (5-2) are contenders in the NFC North. The AFC’s “surprise” team (for now) appears to be the 5-3 Denver Broncos.
And now for the perennial losers
On the other side of the NFL ledger, several teams are mired in a multi-year playoff drought.
The 2-6 New York Jets own the longest current streak with 13 straight seasons without a visit to the playoffs (without purchasing their own tickets, that is!).
They are followed by the Denver Broncos (8 years) with NFC South competitors Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons have failed to make the playoffs for six straight years.
According to the NFL record book, today’s struggling teams have a lot more losing to do in order to catch the 20-year streak of the New Orleans Saints. From the team’s inception in 1967 through 1987, the Saints went without one single season of making the NFL playoffs.
By overcoming such a long history of losing, New Orleans’ one and only Super Bowl victory on February 7, 2010 was even sweeter for Saints fans.
Some seem to consider “parity” to mean having closer outcomes in weekly NFL games
Make no mistake about it. The weekly point differential between the winner and loser in NFL contests seems to be narrowing.
Just last week, nine of the 14 NFL games were decided by seven points or less. In most of those contests, the team with the better season record came out on top.
Was any finish more thrilling last week than Washington’s “Hail Mary” touchdown on the final play of the game against the Chicago Bears? Washington is now 6-2 while da’ Bears slipped to 4-3.
Though the 2-6 Jacksonville Jaguars played a feisty 30-27 game last week against 6-2 Green Bay last week, they still lost. The same thing can be said for the 2-6 Las Vegas Raiders in their 27-20 home loss to the 7-0 Kansas City Chiefs.
Win or lose, closer games keep the NFL’s franchise owners and constituents happier
In recent years, the NFL’s “bad” teams seem more capable of keeping games closer against the league’s top units.
Twenty years ago, Week #8 in the 2004 NFL season produced only three games where the final outcome was seven points or less. Compare that to nine games last weekend.
For television, competitive NFL games will keep fans watching longer. Last second nail-biter finishes make advertisers happy knowing that their expensive messages are reaching the maximum possible number of target viewers.
Larger television audiences for NFL games also help to justify the inflated cost which the networks have been paying a premium price for the rights to broadcast the contests, too.
For those who wager on NFL games, closer games will draw out more monetary action from supporters of both teams. Las Vegas and the online betting services are happier with the increased fan interest.
At 3PM CST on Election Day Tuesday November 5, the NFL’s trade deadline will expire
Teams which believe that they are one or two players away from a successful playoff run this season should check the budget and the team’s pantry of future draft picks. It’s then time to go shopping for a missing piece of the playoff puzzle.
For those teams which already know that this season is a bust, it’s time to market any player whose useful life and payroll cost may be detrimental to next season’s chances.
Yes, there really are several NFL franchises waving the white flag of surrender today nearing the halfway point in the season.
In the past two weeks, the 1-7 Carolina Panthers, 1-6 Tennessee Titans, and 2-6 teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots, Las Vegas Raiders, and Cleveland Browns have sent veteran players to other contenders in exchange for future draft choices.
How does receiving a fifth-round draft pick in a mid-season trade make your team’s fans believe that next year is going to be any better?
Can anyone in the NFL cities with losing teams name their own fifth round draft pick this year?
It seems a bit like selling your $1,000 set of golf clubs and receiving $20 at a neighborhood yard sale. Yes, you have received “something” for your long-time investment. It just won’t buy anything of comparable value in return.
Bad management and poor personnel decisions keep some teams near the bottom
When you look at the 7-0 Kansas City Chiefs, the team has a solid ownership group, a Hall-of-Fame level coach (Andy Reid) and one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL in Patrick Mahomes.
Other teams need to look into the mirror to see why their team isn’t a regular playoff contender.
Let’s consider the Indianapolis Colts.
The #4 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft by the Colts said that he was tired during last Sunday’s game and jogged to the sidelines during this contest for a break.
Have you EVER seen an NFL quarterback do that? I haven’t.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson had to scramble on back-to-back plays and was apparently out of breath. As the team’s quarterback, he could have simply handed the ball to a running back on the next play.
Instead, Richardson jogged to the sidelines for a breather. He was not injured. The 22-year old quarterback was just tired.
The Colts (now 4-4) lost a very tight 23-20 game against the AFC South leader Houston Texans.
On Sunday, Anthony Richardson had yet another sub-par day by completing just 10 of 32 passes for only 175 yards. He now owns the second-lowest completion percentage (44.4%) of any quarterback in the past 20 years with at least 100 passing attempts in a season.
If Indianapolis had done a little bit more homework before the NFL draft, they would have realized that Anthony Richardson wasn’t so hot in college, either.
Though he passed for 17 touchdowns in his final year with the University of Florida, Richardson also had nine interceptions. He ran for another nine touchdowns as the 2022 Gators finished with a very disappointing 6-7 record.
Pressured to find a top quarterback after Andrew Luck retired a few years ago, the Colts reached for Anthony Richardson with the 4th overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft. The Colts liked his size (6’4” and 240 pounds) and potential.
Successful NFL teams rarely utilize an early first round pick on a player loaded with “potential”. It’s unwise to take chances that early in the draft.
Indianapolis Colts’ newly hired head coach Shane Steichen was tasked with turning Anthony Richardson into a premier NFL quarterback.
The Colts have realized that Anthony Richardson is still a very inaccurate passer. He also doesn’t seem to possess the necessary leadership skills to quarterback a championship pro football team.
Yesterday, the Colts benched their 4-year $34 million former first round quarterback in favor of 39-year old veteran Joe Flacco.
The Carolina Panthers can certainly sympathize with the Colts
The top overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft was their quarterback, Bryce Young, from the University of Alabama. After struggling through a horrible rookie season last year, Young was benched by the Panthers recently in favor of veteran back-up quarterback Andy Dalton.
You might remember that Carolina hasn’t made the playoffs in the past six seasons.
Make it seven in a few more weeks.
Tom Brady knew the difference between good teams and the not-so-good teams in the NFL
In an interview a few years ago, 7-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady explained why some NFL teams continue to fail.
“We can look at the film and understand why,” said Brady. “You turn the ball over. You get behind. You don’t play well on third down. You don’t score points in the red area. It’s all the same stuff. Stuff you’ve got to work on.”
You might think that more NFL teams would consider Tom Brady’s definition of the basics to winning football games.
That’s why the Kansas City Chiefs are 7-0. They continue to master the basics every season.
Meanwhile, several of the NFL’s top losing teams continue to trade away some talented veteran players for future draft picks in hopes that younger talent will finally save them next season.
Mastering the smallest details really matters at every level of competition.
Winning teams “get it”.
The losers don’t.