5 thoughts on “2018-2019 NFL: Week 10”

1. Shoot, for whatever reason, I forgot to post this last week. Also, I didn’t really watch that many games last week. (I might have been too deflated after watching the Seahawks-Rams game, heh.)

   Some quick thoughts:

   Steelers-Panthers. I didn’t really watch this game, but my very vague impression is that the Panthers defense struggles against a good spread offense, and that’s basically describes what happened.

   Seahawks-Rams. My expectations were low after seeing the quality of play against the Chargers, in the previous week. My expectations sunk even lower when learning that Fluker and Carson didn’t play. One positive is that the run game did well, which is something that I wouldn’t have expected.

   The negative is the passing game, and Russell Wilson’s performance in the last drive.

   Another positive: The Rams stripped Wilson, got the ball back, putting them in scoring position, and also recovered a failed onside kick (not at the end of the game), but the ‘Hawks still had a chance to win the game at the end. The defense made key stops when they needed to.

   (On another note, I get the feeling that defenses are catching up a little to the Rams offense. Also, this is the type of game, in the playoffs, where there is more pressure and the games are more physical, where the Rams may not fare so well.)

   Patriots-Titans. The key to me wasn’t the Titans offense, which was solid, but the way the Patriot offense, including Tom Brady, struggled. By the way, remember a few years ago I mentioned how Brady was looking old, that he had accuracy problems and seemed a little gunshy to take hits, (I think this was in 2014.) and the following year, I said he looked really different, and I wondered about PEDs? Well, the way Brady looked against the Titans is how he looked in the 2014(?). (Actually, I feel like Brady looked a little worse than in 2014.)

   Don, I didn’t get to see the Cowboys-Eagles. How did both teams look?

   Reply

2. Mariota has definitely turned the corner in the last two games (although I didn’t see a lot of the Patriot game). I think Mariota was second to last of all starters in QBR (or whatever rating – maybe a sabermetric rating) prior to these last two games. He has definitely looked better after their bye.

   Eagles/Cowboys:

   The Cowboy offense does look better with Cooper. But I still rather see a flux of coaching changes.

   I will say this about Wentz. I wasn’t as big a fan of Wentz especially compared to Reid and the rest of NFL watchers prior to this year. I thought he was erratic and I wasn’t sold on his ability to protect the ball. I’m 90 degrees on him, although I’m guessing most might be going the other way. I feel like he’s becoming more accurate, he’s better moving within the pocket and he doesn’t seem to be doing Favre-like moves. He’s quickly moving in my top five of current QBs whereas prior he might not have been in my top ten.

   Reply

   1. Mariota has definitely turned the corner in the last two games (although I didn’t see a lot of the Patriot game).

      In the last two games, I agree, but whether that signifies a substantive change, I’m not sure. With a few exceptions, 2018 teams are very inconsistent; the quality of play is pretty volatile. One week, a team can look like a Super Bowl contender, and the next week they look mediocre.

      I’m not sure why this is, but maybe injuries, the variety of different styles that exist, and lack of preseason practice explains all of this. ?

      The Cowboy offense does look better with Cooper. But I still rather see a flux of coaching changes.

      Did you think they looked better against the Titans? I didn’t. The Cowboys are an example of one of these teams that just seem pretty volatile to me.

      He’s quickly moving in my top five of current QBs whereas prior he might not have been in my top ten.

      Your comments are interesting, because based on the vague impression I got from the comments I heard, Wentz didn’t play that great against the Cowboys. How do the Eagles look overall?

      My sense is that they’re significantly less effective at extending drives. I think they ran the ball better last year, but Wentz’s ability to convert on 3rd and long was unreal. My memory is probably faulty, but I feel like the Eagles were the best at converting on long yardage situations, and Wentz’s ability to run and extend plays was the primary reason for this. That’s one of the main reasons he was a legitimate MVP candidate for me.

      Reply

3. Even against the Titans, the Cowboy offense looked a little more promising than they did prior. They had a stretch of two three and outs in the second half, but that’s nothing compared to how they looked against Washington for example. I can see why you would think their offense struggled against the Titans because they didn’t score in the second half, but I thought overall the offense looks different with Amari.

   The Eagle offense as a whole was good in the second half, not so much in the first half (3 total points). But I didn’t think Wentz played badly. He had one terrible INT, but outside of that he moved great in the pocket and delivered strikes for good portions of the game. The Eagles skilled players aren’t great, and their o-line seem to have taken a step back from last year. The Eagles remind me of an option team ala Navy, where they run the same play like 60% of the time. It’s good when it’s working, but when it’s not it can be tough sledding. This is especially true when playing interdivision teams who will face them at least twice a year.

   I looked it up and Wentz is completing over 70% of his passes this year which is up 10% from last year. He just looks more accurate and seems to make better decisions on when to leave the pocket. In fact I want to say he climbs the pocket much better now than he ever did.

   Reply

   1. I can see why you would think their offense struggled against the Titans because they didn’t score in the second half, but I thought overall the offense looks different with Amari.

      I don’t think it was just the lack of scoring, but how the offense functioned overall. Basically, I didn’t come away feeling like this was an offense that makes the team a good playoff team. And I feel like they’ve show flashes were they could be like that (e.g., vs. the Jaguars).

      Thanks for the information on Wentz. Were the Cowboys blitzing a lot? I thought one of Wentz’s main weaknesses was dealing with blitzes. If he’s much better at this, that would be a significant step in my mind.

      Reply