For this week’s NFL recap, I have once again decided to merge two things that I love very much; football and “The Office”. I believe that weaving in the incredible quotability of the NBC phenomenon with the highs and lows of NFL football will make for spectacular content. I take great joy in creating a world where Pam Beesly and Russell Wilson share a commonality, where Michael Scott has something to do with Patrick Mahomes. Oh, what a beautiful world that is.
“What is going on?!” — Jim Halpert
The Falcons stealing the NFC South lead despite deserving to lose twice on Sunday
The NFC South has been a mess in 2022. The Buccaneers, similarly to Tom Brady’s personal life, have declined in frustrating fashion. The Saints have gotten off to a slow start (although they did look good in a 24-0 victory over the Raiders). The Panthers started 1-5, fired their head coach and traded away their best player. The Falcons also sported a losing record, with their quarterback completing less than 20 passes five times and their godsend tight end cracking 30 receiving yards in a game just once.
Despite all of that, the winner of Sunday’s matchup between Carolina and Atlanta would stand atop the NFC South standings in late October, just as we all predicted before the season. It was a relatively normal game up until the final 30 seconds of regulation, when the Falcons did the thing, and by “the thing”, I mean that they blew a seemingly safe lead in absolutely stunning fashion.
When Younghoe Koo drilled a field goal to put Atlanta up by six with 28 seconds to go, troves of Falcons fans headed for the exits in premature celebration. Considering the history of their franchise, I thought Falcons fans would know that their team holding a lead late in regulation was anything but safe. Perhaps they just wanted to avert witnessing disaster once again, because that’s exactly what happened.
Needing to go 75 yards in 28 seconds with no timeouts, the Panthers needed a miracle. Despite PJ Walker connecting with Terrace Marshall Jr for a 13-yard gain on the second play of the drive, a Carolina receiver still needed to somehow get behind a Falcons secondary that was essentially in a Hail Mary formation. Sounds nearly impossible, right? Welp, these are the Atlanta Falcons, people. These situations are where the PJ Walker’s of the world turn into Dan Marino’s, and the DJ Moore’s turn into Calvin Johnson’s.
But wait! Moore got way too excited and…took his helmet off! How dare he feel any lick of emotion in such a situation! After a 15-yard penalty was assessed for the heinous act, Panthers kicker Eddy Pinero faced a 48-yard extra point instead of a 33-yard extra point. Pinero was a perfect 10/10 on PAT’s in 2022. As his potential game-winning kick sailed wide left, perfection escaped him, just as a Carolina victory had.
In overtime, the Falcons got the ball first, but immediately threw it away…literally. Marcus Mariota forced a deep throw to a blanketed Damiere Byrd, which was not only picked off by CJ Henderson, but Henderson returned it all the way to the Atlanta 20-yard line to set up another relatively makeable game-winning kick for Pinero. This time, it was from only 33 yards away. The length of the kick was different; the result was the same. The game continued. Koo eventually ended the game with a field goal, sending the delirious home crowd into a frenzy.
Are the Falcons actually the best team in the NFC South? Technically, yes. But do they pass the eye test? They’ve certainly looked better than each of their division counterparts through eight weeks. Their run-heavy offense is super old-school, yet extremely entertaining. While their defense hasn’t been great, they’re the only team in the NFC South with double-digit takeaways. The funny thing about this is that they could easily be 7-1 if not for a blown lead, Jalen Ramsey and an egregious roughing the passer penalty. The 2022 NFC South might just be the present version of the 2020 NFC East that saw Washington host a playoff game despite finishing with a 7-9 regular season record. While the Falcons may be flawed, they can be far from perfect and still make the postseason, just as we all predicted at the beginning of the season.
“You have unleashed a wolf.” — Dwight Schrute
Tony Pollard, RB1
Between Saturday night and Sunday morning, cheers from Dallas could be heard nationwide. It wasn’t Luka Doncic putting on his best Magic Johnson impersonation. It wasn’t Jason Robertson continuing his scorching hot start to the season for the Stars. It was Ezekiel Elliot being ruled doubtful for Sunday’s game with a knee injury, paving the way for Tony Pollard to start at running back against the Bears.
Fans rooting for a backup to take over for a struggling starter is common, but the Cowboys running back room is different. Elliot is a solid running back, but external circumstances have skyrocketed the desire for Pollard to be the lead back in Dallas. Elliot was taken fourth overall in the 2016 NFL Draft and was given a massive contract, which, in retrospect, are two of the biggest no-no’s regarding what-to-do-with-a-running-back-in-the-modern-NFL. The other externality was that Pollard had looked far more explosive than Elliot for a while. Since 2020, Elliot began to look like he’d carried the ball 1,237 times in the four seasons prior. Pollard, on the other hand, carried the ball like he was shot out of a cannon.
Since he entered the league in 2019, Pollard had averaged more than five yards per carry 10/18 times he had received 10+ carries in a game, which is a lot. 131 rushing yards and three touchdowns later, he made it 11.
Once again, Pollard looked like the youthful runner Cowboys fans had been desperately wanting to start. Take his first touchdown, for example. Pollard Sonic-dashes up the middle, then encounters Eddie Jackson. Elliot likely wouldn’t have been able to elude Jackson; Pollard hits Jackson with a nasty juke en route to his first score of the day. His third touchdown of the day also displayed Pollard’s superior explosiveness. Pollard side-steps multiple Chicago defenders to the ground, breaks another tackle and turns the corner like a new sports car.
Will Pollard finally be the RB1 in Dallas? Jerry Jones insisted that Elliot will continue to be a large part of the Cowboys offense, but does the team owing him over $12 million this season play a part in that opinion? Even in games where Elliot has been the featured back, Pollard has looked like the more impactful runner. Whatever the decision is, Pollard certainly helped his case on Sunday.
“NO GOD PLEASE NO. NO. NO. NOOOOOOOOO” — Michael Scott
Zach Wilson seemingly every time he eludes the pocket
After Patrick Mahomes performed one of the best Houdini acts of his career a few weeks ago, we talked about how, when a quarterback escapes the pocket, the possibilities of what they can do in a seemingly slim amount of time are ample. Although it can be nerve-wracking, for a player like Mahomes, it’s incredibly exciting. When regarding Zach Wilson, however, the positive outcomes feel far less likely.
Wilson plays like Mahomes, except it can often look as if Mahomes hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night prior. The sophomore is the embodiment of the “Full Send” mentality, except if the send didn’t really work out a good chunk of the time. While Wilson looks much improved from a rocky rookie season, he’s still yet to completely weed out poor decision-making, and that was evidenced against the Patriots on Sunday. Wilson completed three passes to the opposing team, with the third one being the worst.
While Wilson owned up to his mistakes postgame, the Jets cannot make a surprise playoff appearance if he continues to make those kinds of decisions, especially if New York’s rushing attack can’t get back to pre-Breece Hall injury levels.
What’s especially unfortunate is that the Jets were riding a rare wave of momentum. They rolled into Sunday’s contest 5-2, going up against a Patriots squad who was fresh off of a debacle on national television against the Bears that saw Mac Jones get replaced by Bailey Zappe mid-game. It finally looked like the Jets might conquer the Patriots for the first time since 2015. Unfortunately, it was more of the same at MetLife, and if Wilson can’t keep getting in his own way, it could be more of the same for the Jets come January, when they’ll be left out of the postseason.
Speaking of a highly-touted 2021 draftee that’s struggling…
“Whenever I’m about to do something, I think, ‘would an idiot do that?’ and if they would, I do not do that thing.” — Dwight Schrute
Trevor Lawrence throwing the game away
A quick preface: I am in no way calling Trevor Lawrence an idiot, because he’s far from it. He sported a spectacular 4.0 GPA in high school, made the ACC All-Academic team in every season he played at Clemson and graduated college in three years. Lawrence is an incredibly intelligent person who, by all accounts, has a wonderful head on his shoulders.
That being said, Lawrence made a couple of very un-intelligent plays on Sunday that cost his team a victory over a team whose quarterback was literally working out on the plane ride to the game. For me, an airplane is the last place I’d want to do anything physically demanding, as traveling for several hours while being tens of thousands of feet up in the air sitting tightly alongside many strangers is already enough for me. But maybe I’m just too limited and not dangerous enough to possess the drive to workout under those circumstances.
Back to Lawrence. Jacksonville had a golden opportunity to go up two scores early in the second quarter, as Lawrence had led a masterful 12-play, 80-yard drive that perched the Jaguars at the goal line. As Lawrence is rolling out to his right, Evan Engram springs loose for a moment, and Lawrence sees it instantly. What Lawrence didn’t see, however, was Justin Simmons standing in between Lawrence and Engram, ready to pounce on a pass attempt like a cat. Simmons did just that, soaring for a backbreaking interception.
Similarly to Zach Wilson’s third interception against the Patriots on Sunday, that’s a ball that has to be thrown away, especially considering the situation. It was a first-and-goal from the one; there’s no need to force something, because you’ll likely have three more chances to gain a single yard. Does Lawrence have a great arm? Absolutely. Does he still need to learn to not overtrust his arm? Absolutely.
Somehow, that wasn’t Lawrence’s worst interception of the day. After Jacksonville’s offense seemed to have been affected with 2022 Denver Broncos syndrome (being unable to score the ball in the most frustrating manner possible), Lawrence still had a chance to lead the Jags on a go-ahead and possibly game-winning touchdown drive with under two minutes remaining in regulation. The first play of the drive was Lawrence targeting Chirstian Kirk on an out route. Usually, the quarterback will aim towards the outside on this type of route, as that’s the spot where the receiver can catch the ball and the defender can’t unless they either read the pass perfectly or are freakishly athletic. Watch how Lawrence not only fails to place the ball outside the hashes, but misses so poorly that the pass ends up being inside, which allows K’Waun Williams to intercept the throw.
The Broncos iced the game, and the Jaguars left the United Kingdom with their fifth consecutive loss. A glorious performance from Travis Etienne Jr was all for naught. After a promising start to the season, Jacksonville now sits at 2-6 with games against the Chiefs, Ravens, Cowboys and the Titans (twice) still on the schedule. Lawrence has definitely improved upon what was a hellish rookie season under Urban Meyer, but similarly to Zach Wilson, Lawrence still appears to be prone to getting in his own way. Along with the defense taking a massive step back from the early portion of the season, the Jaguars have some serious soul-searching to do as they host the disheveled Raiders next week.
Gabe Lewis: “What are your weaknesses?” Kelly Kapoor: “I don’t have any, a**hole”
The 7-0 Philadelphia Eagles
Let’s say that each NFL team was a set of knight’s armor. The more cracks in the armor, the more vulnerable a team is to defeat. For example, the Rams would have a major hole in their armor (severe lack of receiving talent outside of Cooper Kupp). The Texans would have many cracks (porous overall roster), while the Bills wouldn’t have many major blemishes at all.
The Eagles are the only team in the league without a single noticeable flaw; their armor is sturdy and shining, and they flexed it against a helpless Steelers defense on Sunday. Offensively, the Eagles present threats both on the ground and through the air, putting defenses in a bind. Philly always has a matchup advantage somewhere; if defenses focus on defending the pass, Miles Sanders and Jalen Hurts can run wild behind an excellent offensive line. If defenses stack the box, AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith likely have matchup advantages against whatever cornerback attempts to guard them. Essentially, defenses have so many things to care about that it’s nearly impossible to completely bottle everything up, and it showed on Sunday.
Hurts and Brown connected for a trifecta of touchdowns on Sunday…in the first half. Brown’s first touchdown came on a deep shot that was read perfectly by Minkah Fitzpatrick, but Brown was simply too big (also noteworthy: it appeared as if Terrell Edmunds was supposed to be covering Brown on the play, but Brown blew by him. If not for Fitzpatrick possessing the range of a Gold Glove center fielder, it would’ve looked a lot worse for Pittsburgh). Brown’s second touchdown was also a classic case of bully-ball; the Steelers sent a blitz, which left Akhello Witherspoon on an island with Brown (well, not completely; Fitzpatrick was the lone safety back, but he couldn’t get over in time to do anything about it). That went about as well as one could have guessed. Brown’s third score of the half was similar to his second; Brown had one-on-one coverage against Witherspoon on the right side, Hurts unleashed a beautiful deep ball, Fitzpatrick couldn’t get over in time, and Brown hauled in the pass over a helpless Witherspoon. To add insult to injury, Brown pointed at the two Steeler defenders Shawn Kemp-style to indicate that he did in fact beat both Witherspoon and Fitzpatrick multiple times in one half.
It wasn’t just Brown that propelled the Eagles on Sunday; again, the reason why the Eagles are so good is that they put an immense amount of stress on defenses because of how many good players they have. Miles Sanders gashed Pittsburgh on the ground, albeit with limited carries. For a picture-perfect example of why it’s difficult to defend the Eagles, watch Sanders’ touchdown run. It’s a read-option set, and since Hurts is a rushing threat along with Sanders, Steelers linebacker Malik Reed (who’s coming off of the edge), has a tough decision to make as to which player he should commit to stopping. While Hurts only had 10 rushing yards on two carries against the Steelers, the simple threat of Hurts running the ball caused Reed to commit to Hurts, which was obviously the wrong decision. If it was Matt Ryan or some other relatively immobile quarterback in that situation, Reed almost certainly chases after the running back and absolutely has a chance to thwart a big gain. Instead, Reed is left out of the play, Sanders finds the end zone, and the Eagles balloon their lead to 22.
But of course, the equally, if not more complete defense showed up as well. All three levels played exceptionally. On the defensive line, Javon Hargrave and Milton Williams were wreaking havoc all afternoon. Over the middle of the field, TJ Edwards and Haason Reddick patrolled the area better than I did when I patrolled the sidewalk by my elementary school every day in fifth grade, which is high praise (Edwards was especially dominant, registering two passes defended and a sack. One of those PD’s even assisted an interception). In the secondary, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, James Bradberry, Avonte Maddox, Marlon Tuipulotu and Darius Slay all had at least either a pass breakup, tackle for loss or a takeaway. Six sacks, 11 QB hits and two turnovers later, the Eagles held their opponent to under two offensive touchdowns in a game for the seventh straight contest.
Now, the Eagles aren’t the ‘07 Patriots, although they might finish with a similar undefeated regular season considering how easy their remaining schedule is. They’re not some sort of unstoppable machine that would require a Herculean performance from their opponent to suffer defeat. However, the theme for the Eagles this season has been that, while they’re not necessarily amazing at everything, they’re not bad at anything. In a league where so many teams, including legitimate Super Bowl contenders, have exploitable weaknesses, the Eagles continue to show that their armor is incredibly hard to dismantle.