Our Week 6 Thoughts, Reactions and Recap

18 Oct, 2022

Our Week 6 Thoughts, Reactions and Recap

Are the Green Bay Packers Fixable?

Green Bay is currently second place in the NFC North behind a 5-1 Minnesota team. In the past I would have said we need to give the Packers time to find their footing and that they’ll sort it out eventually. I’m not so sure in 2022. 

Before the last two weeks, Aaron Rodgers was 63-8 straight up as a favorite of 6.5 or more. Now he’s 63-10 after two losses to the Jets and Giants. Both New York teams are much better than everyone thought before the season, but this is the Green Bay Packers we’re talking about. A team with a record of 39-10 since the 2018 season. Led by a quarterback who hasn’t thrown more than 6 interceptions in a season since 2017, but already has 3 through 6 weeks. Has Aaron given up or is this just not a good football team?

The Packers main loss in the offseason was obviously Davante Adams. However, many of the talking heads in the media didn’t think losing him would hurt too much. They would run a much different style of offense, now relying on their strong running back duo and their stellar defense would hold the opposition to very few points. That has not been the case. Green Bay’s scoring defense is 15th in the league at 20.5 points per game. The Packers have had to abandon the run in 4 of their 6 games. With no wide receivers to throw to and a running game made unusable by the defense, Green Bay has not had an easy path to 3-3. They still have tough games up ahead and a very late Week 14 bye week. Could this be the year Rodgers misses the playoffs?

New York City, America’s Football Capital

The Jets and Giants might be the 2 most surprising storylines after the first 6 weeks of this NFL season. One is led by Daniel Jones, the other by Zach Wilson. 2 quarterbacks almost every football fan had at the bottom of their tiers. The last time both of these teams were 2 or more wins above .500 was Week 9 of the 2011 season. Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs were pounding opposing defenses for the Giants and Ladanian Tomlinson was finishing up his career as a Jet. 

The main reason both of these teams have been good so far can be traced back to this past draft. Garrett WIlson, the Jets’ rookie wide receiver is currently the 30th best wideout per Pro Football Focus (min. 25 targets). Kayvon Thibodeaux of the Giants is also starting to come into his own as an NFL player. He had a big sack and forced a fumble last week in New York’s big win over Baltimore. We still aren’t sure if either of these team’s quarterbacks are the answer, but it’s safe to say both squads have a great young nucleus of talent.

Carolina Needs to Activate Operation: Rebuild Immediately

What is Carolina waiting for? After another awful offensive showing in which they could only muster 3 points it’s clear the head coach and Baker Mayfield aren’t the only problems. Trading Christian McCaffrey has to be priority number 1 and trading DJ Moore should be a close second. They should be able to get quite a few draft picks for both of those guys and will have a very high draft pick of their own next season. Carolina can grab a top quarterback from next year’s quarterback heavy draft and pick up another good wide receiver as well. The losing will hurt this year, but it will be worth it in a season of two if they hit on the quarterback. The NFC is weak and should be for the foreseeable future. Rodgers and Brady will be gone next year, and Stafford will follow in no more than 3. The Panthers have to take this time to rebuild while they don’t have a shot at the playoffs and be ready to pounce when the “old heads” make for greener pastures.

Cardinals Fans Won’t Get to See the Brown-Hopkins Duo

It has been a tough start to the season for Cardinals fans. Not only are they 2-4, but they just gave their head coach, who many believe is a big issue, a 4-year contract extension keeping him in Arizona through the 2027 season. After a brutal game against Seattle on Sunday, where they lost 9-19, they found out that wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown will miss at least 6 weeks. It’s horrible timing as their star wide receiver, Deandre Hopkins, is coming back from a 6-game suspension next week. Having these two playing side by side might have been the push Arizona’s offense needed to get back into gear, but we’ll most likely have to wait until the end of this season to see it. Arizona did just trade for disgruntled Carolina wide receiver, Robbie Anderson, but how much will a B- player really help? 

How is Baltimore 3-3?

After another heartbreaking fourth quarter meltdown by Baltimore, they are now 3-3. Every Sunday it seems they have the win in hand until that dreaded “witching hour” starts ticking down. The Ravens are the 40th team in NFL history to have a double-digit lead at some point of their first 6 games, but the only one of those 40 teams with a record of .500 or worse after doing so. 

So, what is Baltimore’s problem? To get a big lead like that, one would think both the offense and the defense have to be playing well. To keep that lead is a different story. Both sides of the ball have shrunk when it matters most. In the Miami game, the secondary looked foolish, getting burnt in rapid succession by both Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill. In the Buffalo game, Lamar’s bad interception in the Redzone gave Josh Allen the green light to go ahead and steal the win. In Sunday’s game, some ill-timed penalties were the Ravens kryptonite. 

The good or bad news depending on how you look at it, is that it’s not one thing consistently letting Baltimore down. Each of these mistakes have been one-offs that can be fixed. I feel confident that Harbaugh will right the ship and get Baltimore back where they need to be.

Other Notes:

  • Tom Brady and the Buccaneers are broken. The offensive line has to start playing better or Tom’s divorce will be all for nothing. 
  • This is surely an overreaction mixed with a little recency bias, but Bailey Zappe is looking better than Mac Jones. He’s been much more of a playmaker and less of a game manager. Patriot haters should be on “red alert”.
  • Atlanta keeps rolling. They are now 6-0 against the spread and own a 3-3 record. I was shocked they were good at the beginning of the season and now I am even more shocked at how well they’re playing without Patterson. 
  • Joe Burrow and Jamarr Chase finally got back on the same page. With the Ravens’ recent troubles, they’re still tied for first in the AFC North even after a slow start. 
  • Buffalo beat Kansas City again in the regular season. Chiefs fans can almost breathe a sigh of relief as Buffalo was able to exact their revenge for that “13 second” loss in a non-playoff game.