Week 9: The Good Stuff
A Pass Rush Bonanza - If last week was characterized by Tecmo passing performances, this week brought us some aggressive play on the other side of the ball. But okay, Ben Roethlisberger still looks scary too. Anyway, at least four performances really stood out to me. The Saints gave Cam Newton no mercy on Thursday night. Despite two early turnovers on offense, the defense took advantage of the Panthers' reshuffled offensive line, sacking Newton four times and forcing a goal line fumble that proved to be the turning point for the game. The Vikings have quietly collected the most sacks in the NFL this season with 30, and Mike Zimmer's physical squad came up huge in wearing down a returning but weary RG3 to eke out the win in Minnesota. But the biggest haul of the week goes to the resurgent St. Louis Rams who absolutely brutalized the 49ers' offensive line on Sunday. The Rams racked up seven sacks and recovered two fumbles from the reeling Colin Kaepernick including that mystifying game-clincher at the 1 yard-line. Oh yes, the Rams may not make it to January, but they sure continue to be fun to watch.
The AFC Storm A-Brewin' - I’ve spun a lot of cheap words over the years by making fun of the sad state of the AFC. After all, last year featured an 8 - 8 AFC wild card team while the very deserving 10 - 6 Cardinals of the NFC had to sit January out. If there’s any indication the tides are turning, consider this: 11 of 16 AFC teams have at least 5 wins and a winning record as a result right now. And only the Patriots have 7 wins to their name, meaning November could be a free-for-all with plenty more high-stakes games than anyone probably saw coming. If that means playoff football is coming two months early, I'll take it, especially in the AFC North where all four teams are separated by a game or less.
- Weird fact: this is just the third away game for the Broncos so far this season, which may mean nothing, but could also mean they get off to a slower start than usual. Denver's the better team all around, but I just can't pick against the Pats at home right now.
Week 9: The Bad Stuff
Whatever's Wrong with the 49ers - Taking a page from the Falcons last week, the St. Louis Rams did their best to gift-wrap a 49ers win at the jeans factory on Sunday in the waning minutes. They managed an incomplete pass when San Francisco was out of timeouts and committed three major penalties to put the 49ers in scoring range at the end of the fourth quarter. But you know how this one ends. The Niners had four chances to score from inside St. Louis's 5-yardline in the final minute of play and just couldn't do anything with it, a problem they've had far too often this season with a rudderless offense. This is the kind of loss that will haunt diehard fans for a couple weeks and maybe more if the losses continue to pile up and Jim Harbaugh walks. Not that I'm complaining unless he makes his way to Atlanta. Yikes.
Shanked It! My Worst Week 9 Prediction - Speaking of, I'm starting to question my spidey senses with many of these AFC also-rans. Are the Chargers really much worse than I thought or are the Dolphins really putting the pieces together at the right time?
- This could get wild and sloppy since I never quite know who will show up for these teams week to week, but San Diego has been the more consistent, well-rounded team to this point so I see them rallying after a tough loss in Denver.
Week 9 Feature: The Annual Coaching Hot Seat Roundup
It’s that time of the year again when we start to speculate on the futures of the coaches who've struggled most this year. As I mentioned above, there are a lot of teams doing mediocre to wonderfully right now, so hopefully this will be a quieter pink slip season than some we've had in previous years. But here are my projections and arbitrarily set odds for those who might not make it to next September. Honorable mentions go to Marc Trestman for the Bears' sloppy offense and Lovie Smith for a really, really bad Buccaneers team that he might not get a hometown benefit of the doubt for come January. Anyway, here we go:
Ron Rivera (Carolina Panthers) 1:7 - It's hard to recall now, but Rivera may have been just a loss or two away from getting the axe a year ago when the Panthers started out 1 - 3. They ended up going on an unbelievable run to finish 12 - 4 and secure a first-round bye in the playoffs, but it's pretty much been downhill again since then. Riverboat Ron reverted to his conservative play-calling self and the Panthers fizzled out of the gate in their first playoff appearance since 2009. This year, Carolina's defense has taken a serious step back, and the offense has no answers with a patchwork offensive line, anemic running power, and a game plan that consists almost entirely of Cam Newton trying to scramble or get the ball to Kelvin Benjamin. If Rivera has reason to be concerned about his job at this point, it'd be the lackluster success he's had every season but one with the Panthers and also how badly the defense that looked unbeatable a year ago has regressed. But Carolina's front office may also acknowledge the awful salary cap/suspension/injury blows to the roster Rivera has to deal with and give him one more chance to get this franchise back to winning. Plus, the Panthers have a pretty manageable schedule coming up with the Falcons, Vikings, Buccaneers and Browns that could help this team rally to 0.500 and a shot at an NFC South title.
Gus Bradley (Jacksonville Jaguars) 1:3 - I’m not sure what kind of excuse cushion Gus Bradley gets for taking on one of the worst coaching jobs in the pros. He inherited a profoundly awful QB tandem in Chad Henne and Blaine Gabbert, a washed-up Maurice Jones-Drew who apparently thought the Raiders would be a better career choice, and a dwindling fanbase that has been plied with free Wifi and swimming pools to be lured into the general vicinity of the Jaguars eight days a year. Make that seven days with the annual pity plane to London. But a year and a half later, things ain’t looking good. Despite the Jaguars making some splashy draft picks and hauling in some of Bradley’s Super Bowl vet friends from Seattle in the offseason, Jacksonville boasts the worst point differential in the league. Rookie QB Blake Bortles is pick-sixing away every inch of progress this defense has made, and this team would be more than a little lucky to get to 2 - 14 judging by the back half of the schedule. Let this be a cautionary tale for the next assistant coach who leaves a Lombardi-bound team a little too soon for that head coaching black hole on the Atlantic. Sometimes it’s just not worth it.
Mike Smith (Atlanta Falcons) 1:2 - By most accounts, nobody blames the Falcons for hanging onto Mike Smith after last season's stunning plunge to 4 - 12 after coming up a few yards short of a Super Bowl appearance in 2012. Julio Jones went down with a season-ending injury early on and Atlanta lost other key contributors to injury and free agency, making it a de facto rebuilding year. Plus, Smith had engineered the winningest stretch in Falcons history up to that point. But after another miserable start this season that includes an active 5-game losing streak and one of the worst series of coaching decisions I've ever seen against the Lions in London, a lot more people are starting to wonder if all that success was in spite of Smith. Like Ron Rivera, Smith has had to endure a slew of unfortunate injuries and free agency departures that are beyond his control, but Atlanta fans can only endure so many seasons of missed opportunities with a once-in-a-generation quarterback like Matt Ryan. Especially when the Falcons have struggled to close out close games in the past couple of years that they used to win in their sleep. My gut says it's time for a change despite management's lip service to Smith these days - I'm giving the gamblers out there generous one-to-two odds that he stays.
Rex Ryan (New York Jets) 10:1 - What has seemed inevitable for three seasons is surely at the point of no return after the Jets have started things out 1 - 7 this year. Of all the downtrodden coaches in the NFL, I genuinely feel for Ryan more than most. He's been given the shaft by the front office year after year and had to spin garbage into gold with Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow, Geno Smith and an old, still terrible decision-maker in Michael Vick. But this time around, Ryan's usually stout defense isn't getting the job done either and the Jets have no chance of making the playoffs at 1 - 7. The only question left is, will this guy finally get that bizarre Sanchez jersey tattoo removed? It'd be a solid investment with whatever severance pay he walks away with after five years of continuous flogging by the New York media. Bless you, Rex.
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