NFL

Overreactions, Exaggerations & Just The Plain Out Truth – Week 3

Sep 29, 2021, 10:37 AM | Updated: 10:38 am

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - SEPTEMBER 26: Clelin Ferrell #99 of the Las Vegas Raiders reacts after a turn o...

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The third week of the NFL has come and gone and with each passing week there are always more questions that need to be answered.

More overreactions that need to be tampered, a slew of topics that require a deep look into just how true they really are, and of course an army of results that cause us NFL fans to come to some insane, wild conclusions.

Overreactions

Teddy Bridgewater: If you’ve ever heard me on the radio, then you would know I am a very, very staunch supporter of Teddy Bridgewater. I liked him at the University of Louisville, thought he got a real bad hand dealt to him in Minnesota due to his injury and the overhyped love for Kirk Cousins (we will get to that next) and seemed to never been really given a true chance to succeed with a solid team surrounding him.

He played pretty well for Carolina before his injury last year in Carolina, especially early on in the season when Christian McCaffey(Yea we will speak about him later also) was healthy despite Carolina not really having a loaded roster. Now look what he is doing in Denver who has a tremendous defense and a solid running game.

Through three games he hasn’t turned the ball over one time and is second in the league in completion percentage and in the top five in passer rating, again without turning the ball over one time!

There’s only two other quarterbacks who have started a game this year without a turnover, Russell Westbrook and Tyrod Taylor, who didn’t even play this past week due to injury. Call it what you want but Teddy Bridgewater is as legit as they come, maybe not the flashiest, maybe not the darling QB we talk about in the news every week but dare I say a top 10 quarterback so far this season?

The belief in Kirk Cousins and the Vikings: Year after year, I try and understand why people continue to believe in Kirk Cousins as a top end quarterback in the NFL.

I’m not saying NFL fans, analysts and onlookers consider him a top five guy but people seem to think he has the talent to produce results that don’t seem to fit his mold of a player and his past results. He’s good but not great, he’s a starter in this league, not a star and he’s a 1-2 quarterback who probably will lead his team to a record of somewhere in the mold of .500 this season.

That’s probably not even going to cut it in the NFC Central and definitely won’t cut it in the NFC overall. One win seems to always bring Cousins and the Vikings back into the fold of “you know the Vikings are dangerous, probably don’t want to play them in November” conversations. I just don’t see it and at this point I’m tired of hearing that same ol talk from the NFL community. Can we please stop overreacting to the average Vikings.

AFC and NFC East: Go ahead and crown the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills now. The other teams competing in these divisions are playing for draft position next year as they won’t win the division and will not be competing for a wild card spot.

Detroit Lions: The Lions are 0-3 which is never a good thing in the NFL, let alone in any sports league in the world but they’ve had an opportunity in two of those three games to prevail. If it wasn’t’ for Justin Tucker’s out of this world field goal to give the Ravens the win, the Lions would be in the win category.

Not to mention they were getting blown out in week one only to fall short to the San Francisco 49ers by one possession in the final seconds. The team probably will not make the playoffs and probably will not even have a winning record but they have a look of a team that believes they can compete but doesn’t know how to win.

They have a rookie head coach in Dan Campbell and a brand new scheme, structure and tons of new players. It takes a minute to get your feet under you in all aspects of life for most, they may be on to something in Detroit.

Exaggerations

Las Vegas Raiders: Look I know every Las Vegas Raider fan in the world is going to read this and want to argue but your team could easily be 0-3, instead of 3-0. I get it, it’s the NFL, games are won on inches, bad calls and luck, all which the Raiders have been recipients of up to this point.

The Chiefs loom, the LA Chargers loom, as do the Broncos, the AFC West may be one of the toughest divisions to compete in this year, I’m not sure after watching the first three weeks of everyone in that division the Raiders are the best even though they are tied with the best record. Furthermore, I may even proceed to say I think they may be the worst team in the division, time will tell…

New England Patriots: When you win as much as the New England Patriots have you tend to get the benefit of the doubt and for good cause. Year after year the Patriots have seemed to compete for the NFL crown of best team and play for a title. That’s just it, we’ve all giving the Patriots a universal “they should be at least a winning team” pass over the last few decades but this is a different year.

As seen last year, Tom Brady isn’t walking through that door, well he is this week, but he will be wearing another teams uniform, which means the Patriots are most likely taking another “L”. The Patriots lost to the New Orleans Saints in week three and Jameis Winston didn’t even have 200 yards passing, nor did a running back eclipse 100 yards rushing, they just seemed to lose to a better team.

I can’t seem to think there won’t be more of those type of games coming up for the Pats, starting this week versus Tampa Bay. The Patriots have been good historically lately but they have the look of average this year. If you look at most prognostications coming into the season, most had the team competing for a wild card spot which now seems to be a miscalculation from the masses.

Christian McCaffrey: By no means am I saying he is always hurt, non-available or injured but I am saying that McCaffrey is becoming a regular on the injury report for the Carolina Panthers.

I mean I could be, wait for it … exaggerating, but it’s becoming a frequent thing. Add Thursdays first quarter hamstring injury to the list that will now keep him out for a team that is 3-0 and leading the NFC South.

A win in the NFL: A win is a win in the NFL, it always makes a team and their fans feel better for the rest of the week until next Sunday but for the Atlanta Falcons who prevailed over the New York Giants this past week, it’s just a win, your team isn’t going anywhere this year. Enjoy it until next Sunday while you can.

The Truth

Justin Tucker: Justin Tucker… Is there really anything else that needs to be said?

Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen and Kyler Murray: It doesn’t matter what adjective you use; young, big arm, athletic, clutch. They all describe everyone of these quarterbacks and them some. Chargers Justin Hebert has just been about as steady as they come for the LA.

Ever since his first start in week 2 last year versus the Kansas City Chiefs(the same team he just went into Arrowhead Stadium and beat) he has displayed moxie and infused a different competitive nature for the team. Remember when most thought he would come out after his Junior year and be selected number one overall? Well now we are getting to see why the overall feeling was justified.

Speaking of number-one overall picks, look no further than the once MLB drafted Arizona Cardinals Kyler Murray and last year’s number one pick Joe Burrow.

Both are leading a few franchises who seem to be trending upwards and it has a lot to do with the play of each individual. Kyler Murray is either 1A or 1B when it comes the running quarterbacks, depending on if you prefer him or Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson. He also ranks in the top three in completion percentage, yards, yards per game and yards averaged per completion through three games this season, not to mention his team is 3-0 with two road wins heading into week four.

Since we are talking about road wins, we have to bring up the win for the Cincinnati Bengals in Pittsburgh of the Steelers Sunday. It doesn’t happen without their young QB Joe Burrow who had three touchdown passes and only four incompletions.

Burrow who jumped out the starting gate last year playing well as a rookie before sustaining a season ending ACL tear looks to be doing the same thing all over again. He seems to be as tough as they come and is what we all have come to know as a “Gamer”, he just finds ways to keep his team in the game and as we have seen win his fair share.

NFC East & NFC Central vs NFC South & NFC West: For what seems to be the 20th year straight, the NFC East is poor and weak. Once again the division unless something changes seems to hinge on a healthy Dak Prescott.

If he stays healthy the Cowboys should run away with a division, seeing as the other teams are filled with starting quarterbacks whose names on their ID Card’s display, Taylor Heinicke, Daniel Jones and Jalen Hurts. I think Jalen Hurts has talent and can be a bonafide starter in the NFL but he’s young and doesn’t have the most talented roster as of right now.

Mix that with a NFC Central division who saw their leading team sneak a prayer of a win out vs the San Francisco 49ers Sunday evening, in the Packers and we have a few divisions that look to be over before it really started. I mean it’s only week four but both of the divisions are 4-8 disrespectfully. They only have one team with a winning record in each conference, who by the way already have lost a game. It’s just plain out ugly in the East and Central divisions.

On the other hand the NFC west has two teams in the LA Rams and Cardinals who are undefeated, another team in the 49ers who were 37 seconds, Aaron Rodgers and Devante Adams, plus a Mason Crosby field goal away from equaling that feat. While the NFC boasts the defending champions one of three teams in the division who own winning records, one being a surprising 3-0 Carolina team.

I’m about 99% sure the two wild card spots come from the NFC West or the NFC South and it’s just Week 4!

Carson Wentz: Wentz will not start or play in every game this year for the Colts.

Super Bowl home team playing in the game: No doubt about it, there is no exaggeration or overreaction to the Rams chances of making the Super Bowl this year. It’s hard to make it to the big game but the Rams are the TRUTH!!. I think they outright win the NFC and obtain a first round bye.

I mean, they still have the NY Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions and Houston Texans on the schedule, that takes them to 7-0. Let’s play the safe game and say they win every home game within their divisional games, that’s 10 wins vs 3 losses and 3 more games left against Green Bay, Ravens, Titans and the Vikings.

12-5 or 13-4 seems to be the landing spot, I can’t see anyone else maybe besides the Cowboys reaching that plateau, only due to their terrible division. Sofi in February, it just maybe hosting their own.

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Overreactions, Exaggerations & Just The Plain Out Truth – Week 3