Five weeks into season, the NFC East is hovering above the rest of the NFL. There are six teams with one or zero losses, and three of them reside in the division that two years ago sent a 7-9 champion to the playoffs.
What to know from NFL Week 5: Let’s review roughing the passer
Here is what to know.
The NFL needs to make roughing the passer reviewable. With three minutes left and the Atlanta Falcons down 21-15, Grady Jarrett stormed around the corner and slung Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady to the ground on third down, rolling over him with no extra malice or excessive physicality. It appeared the Falcons would get the ball back with a chance to drive for a game-winning touchdown, to complete a furious comeback after trailing 21-0 at the start of the fourth quarter.
And then, a flag. Jerome Boger’s crew called Jarrett for roughing the passer, which was both confusing and infuriating. Jarrett could not have done anything more than he did to avoid injuring Brady. The call allowed the Buccaneers to salt away the game and robbed the Falcons of a chance at a division-shifting victory.
The moment provided a perfect example of why roughing the passer should be reviewable. Protecting quarterbacks is good for the health of the league, and the restrictive rules are smart. They are also difficult to legislate. When Jarrett hopped to his feet, it may have looked — in real time, on the field — as though he was putting his full weight on Brady. A 20-second glimpse at the video would have corrected the mistake.
It would be simple to make sure quarterbacks are protected by the rule while ensuring no egregious penalties decide a game. One did Sunday, and it ruined what could have been one of the day’s most exciting finishes.
The Rams’ offense is dismal. One sequence in Los Angeles’s 22-10 loss to the Cowboys typifies the Rams’ offensive ineptitude. Late in the third quarter, the Rams took over on the Dallas 29-yard line after a shanked punt. They tried a trick play that didn’t work. They moved back 10 yards on a holding penalty. Matthew Stafford threw a one-yard completion to Allen Robinson, then a five-yard pass to Robinson. On fourth and 14, Matt Gay missed a 51-yard field goal.
Remember when Sean McVay made Los Angeles the vanguard of offensive football? Those days feel like a long time ago. The Rams’ offense consists of short passes to Cooper Kupp and dreck. Kupp turned a short screen into a 75-yard touchdown Sunday, and they still managed only 10 points. Injuries along their offensive line made blocking Micah Parsons and the rest of the Cowboys’ fearsome front seven impossible. With Odell Beckham Jr. a rehabbing free agent and Van Jefferson hurt, the Rams have no viable skill players outside of Kupp. Robinson has surprisingly been a bust, unable to develop chemistry with Stafford and looking less explosive than he was in Chicago.
It should not come as a surprise that the Rams lack depth. Their strategy of sacrificing high draft picks for stars is rightfully celebrated; the Lombardi Trophy in their facility isn’t going anywhere. But it also makes draft misses more penal. Last year, the Rams used the 57th pick on speedy wide receiver Tutu Atwell. Atwell had a 54-yard gain against the Cowboys, but he is at best a gadget player and mostly a non-factor.
When the Rams picked Atwell, Amon-Ra St. Brown was on the board. But the Rams don’t even need a star. They just need a useful player, such as Nico Collins or Josh Palmer, two more receivers who were available when the Rams took Atwell. Every team misses in the draft, but those are magnified without high-volume and high-quality picks.
Zac Taylor chose poorly. In two ways, game mismanagement cost the Cincinnati Bengals a chance to win a taut, fascinating game before Justin Tucker’s 43-yarder gave the Ravens a 19-17 victory and first place in the AFC North on Sunday night in Baltimore.
The Bengals could have tied the score late in the third quarter, but Taylor chose to go for it on fourth and goal from the 2-yard line while down 13-10. In that spot, a field goal would have guaranteed the Bengals a one-score game at worst when they got the ball back. That spot on the field also nullified some of the Ravens’ defensive weaknesses — the Bengals couldn’t get Patrick Queen in space, for example, or count on zone defense to pick up a quick completion. And Joe Burrow doesn’t provide a goal-line threat that a mobile quarterback would. Taylor called a doomed shovel pass that never had a chance.
The Ravens kicked a field to go up six, at which point the Bengals responded with an epic drive. It may have been too epic. At one point in their 13-play jaunt, Taylor seemed to realize he would have a chance to drain the clock. But the Ravens had all of their timeouts, and the Bengals were running out of field. Really, their deliberateness was only making it easier for the Ravens to kill the clock before taking the lead. By the time Burrow sneaked in to take a one-point lead, it was the Ravens who were in perfect position: They had Lamar Jackson against a tired defense and the best kicker in NFL history. Tucker’s kick sailed through with no time left.
That may be nitpicking to the extreme — the Bengals scored with less than two minutes left to go ahead on the road. But coaches need to consider every last detail. The pace of the Bengals’ drive mattered as much — if not more — than the result. And it cost them.
The Vikings are in control of the NFC North. Minnesota has not played like a dominant team, squeezing out close victories over mediocre opponents in three consecutive weeks. But the Vikings have pushed their record to 4-1 and, crucially, are 3-0 in the division.
The Vikings’ steadiness stands in contrast to the wayward Packers, who blew a 17-3 lead in London against the Giants on Sunday. Aaron Rodgers said after last week’s 27-24 overtime victory over the New England Patriots that the Packers’ success was not sustainable. He was proved right Sunday, when his team made key mistakes, couldn’t finish drives in the second half and failed to stop the run.
The postgame locker room included some troubling comments. Rodgers chided cornerback Jaire Alexander for saying he would only be worried if the Packers lose next week; in Rodgers’s mind, “manifesting” a theoretical loss is damaging. And running back Aaron Jones seemed to question Coach Matt LaFleur’s play-calling in the final minutes, when the Packers passed twice when needing one yard to keep the drive alive.
The Broncos are in choppy, uncharted waters. In a matter of weeks, the enthusiasm surrounding the acquisition of a star quarterback and a young, offensive coach has devolved into home fans booing — or simply leaving the stadium. Russell Wilson has been one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL. Nathaniel Hackett has coached like a dad on vacation trying to order off a menu printed in a language he doesn’t speak. The Broncos are the second-lowest-scoring team in the NFL and are lucky to be 2-3 with a difficult schedule ahead.
What is going to happen next? Given the unprecedented nature of the situation, nothing can be taken off the table. The Broncos have new owners, the Walton-Penner family, who didn’t execute the Wilson trade or hire Hackett. Nobody knows how they’re inclined to process the ugly returns.
The Broncos are five games into Wilson’s $245 million contract, and already he is playing as if in decline. ESPN reported Wilson has been playing with a shoulder injury and received an injection Friday to treat it. Unless the Broncos turn things around, it will be fascinating to watch the fallout.
The Giants are proving that coaching matters. The most surprising team of the day is also the most surprising team of the first five weeks. The Giants stunned the Packers in London, 27-22, behind another massive performance from rejuvenated running back Saquon Barkley. They improved to 4-1, matching their win total from Joe Judge’s last season in Brian Daboll’s first year.
The Giants capitalized on Rodgers’s mishaps, including the third-down sack he took that knocked them out of field goal range early in the third quarter. They controlled the ball with Barkley, who deserves early consideration as the offensive player of the year.
Daboll has changed so much about the Giants, but his impact is seen most in the in-game adjustments he makes. The Giants have outscored their opponents 70-39 in the second half.
The Patriots’ coaching staff had a great day, too. Bill Belichick continued his years-long habit of making Jared Goff’s life miserable. Belichick stymied Goff four years ago in the Super Bowl with a game plan from which Goff still has not recovered. In a 29-0 Patriots victory Sunday, Goff’s sneaky strong season — he entered ranked third in the NFL in passing yards — came to a crashing halt. He completed 19 of 35 passes for 229 yards with an interception and a fumble that safety Kyle Dugger scooped and returned 59 yards for a touchdown.
On offense, Belichick’s top assistants, Matt Patricia and Judge, have received justified criticism. But they deserve credit for preparing fourth-round draft pick Bailey Zappe for his first start. Getting to play comfortably from ahead helped, but Zappe completed 17 of 21 attempts for 188 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Geno Smith is making the Seahawks look brilliant. Seattle lost, 39-32, in New Orleans, but that wasn’t Smith’s fault. The quarterback continued his remarkable season by passing for 268 yards and three touchdowns without an interception.
Smith is one of the great stories of the season. A second-round draft pick in 2013, he has been a backup since 2015. He was best known as the quarterback who lost his job when a teammate broke his jaw over a financial dispute. But the Seahawks turned to him after trading Wilson, a move many interpreted as Coach Pete Carroll using 2022 to reset the roster.
Through five weeks, Smith has been one of the best passers in the NFL. He has completed 75.2 percent of his throws and averaged 261 yards while logging nine touchdowns against just two interceptions. Entering this week, Pro Football Focus graded Smith as the best quarterback in the NFL. He has been better than Wilson by any measure, and it has not been close.
The Seahawks gained two first-round picks and two second-round picks when they dealt Wilson, and it has not cost them any drop-off at quarterback. Whether that’s good luck or great evaluation, it’s working out incredibly well.
Source: WP
