2018: Five [Opfer's Take]aways from NFL Week 10

Five Takeaways

5. Time for TNF to be canned?

The NFL is constantly exploring avenues to increase revenues.

One of those has been playing football on Thursday nights. Since 2012, TNF has been a part of the regular season schedule, with every team in the league playing at least once in primetime on a short week. Yet, since its inception, the quality of competitive games has spiraled downward.

Enter 2018. Of the nine games played on the Thursday Night Football slate thus far, all but two have been decided by double digits, with the winning team outscoring the opposition by a staggering 338-165 (37.6-18.3 points per game) margin. Even more, eight of the nine victors have scored at least 30 points (with three of the last four scoring at least 40). Rarely do we get a close game.

The short week gives both teams little time to prepare, and gives the home team (combined 7-2) an even bigger advantage (without having to use a day for travel).

Growing up, it was always fun looking forward to Thanksgiving day games, but now even that has lost its luster because we see it every week.

It’s time for the NFL to think about restoring tradition. 

4. Pats worst nemesis?

Want a blueprint for beating the Patriots? Become an adversary via the Belichick learning tree, as a former player/coach.

Both have surprisingly paid off this season, as Detroit’s HC Matt Patricia (spent 14 seasons under Belichick as an assistant) and Tennessee’s HC Mike Vrabel (spent 8 seasons as a player for Belichick) have dominated their prior boss.

Patricia’s Lions took the Pats to the woodshed in primetime in Week 3 via a 26-10 blowout while holding the Pats to 209 yards of total offense. Then, this past Sunday, Vrabel’s Titans replicated that effort, defeating his former coach, 34-10, while holding them to 284 yards (40 rushing).

New England rarely looks outmatched or out-coached, but Belichick’s students have made the Patriots look silly and in the process, may have found a recipe in making the Pats less formidable.

3. Teams to keep an eye on.  

Every year there seems to be a team or two that sneaks up on the rest of the league and makes some noise come January. Last year, it was the Jaguars.

This year, here’s two candidates to keep an eye on (one from each conference):

Los Angeles Chargers – After starting 1-2, the Bolts have quietly won six in a row, and remain just 1.5 games back of the red-hot Kansas City Chiefs. The Chargers boast an underrated QB-RB-WR trio that can match up with the best of them. Philip Rivers is enjoying one of his best seasons (21 TD to 4 INT) as a pro, Melvin Gordon ranks fifth in rushing yards (672, 5.4 YPC), and Keenan Allen remains a steady number one option (687 yards, 2 TDs). The defense ranks 9^th in sacks (26) and that’s without star DE Joey Bosa, who is expected to return from injury later this season. They may not beat out the Chiefs for the division, but they very well could make a run similar to that of the Jaguars a season ago.

Chicago Bears – Before the season started, it was a foregone conclusion that the Packers or Vikings would rule the NFC North. Not so fast, as Chicago – winners of three straight – looks like the team to beat in the division. DE Khalil Mack has instantly inspired one of the league’s toughest defenses – which ranks third overall, second in sacks (30), and first in both INTs (16) & forced fumbles (16). Meanwhile, the offense is humming under first year HC Matt Nagy (29.9 PPG, ranked 5^th). QB Mitchell Trubisky continues to improve in his second season. With his performance on Sunday, he became the first Bears QB since 1950 with three games of 300+ passing yards and 3+ TD in a single season (NFLResearch). The Bears confidence is rising and with it a contender in the NFC.

2. Browns rookie trio igniting hope.

This past off season, GM John Dorsey was tasked with turning around one of the worst franchises in the NFL (let alone all of pro sports). So far, he’s delivered.

The Browns have struck gold with three future studs who are already making significant impacts (and strides in year one). For the first time in 30 tries (since ’99) they have a franchise signal caller. They’ve got a future bell-cow running back averaging 6.2 yards per carry. And they have a lock-down corner for years to come in a division with star wide outs Antonio Brown and A.J Green. All three (Mayfield, Chubb, and Ward) have won Rookie of the Week honors at least once so far this season.

Mayfield completed his first 13 passes on Sunday against the Falcons (ESPN.com).

Mayfield leads an offense that ranks 10^th in total yards, including sixth in rushing (133.2 YPG). The first-year signal caller has performed admirably, completing 61.8 percent of his passes while averaging 248 yards a game, with 13 TDs to 7 INTs. All on a team with very little offensive weaponry. Chubb has scored in all three of his starts, rushing for 341 yards on 60 carries (5.7 avg) in those contests. Ward has three INTs (two in his first game) & two fumble recoveries and continues to make plays in the secondary (7 pass breakups). 

It's still early, but for the first time since ’99, the Browns have some pieces to build around.

Fun Fact: Nick Chubb’s 92-yard TD run against the Falcons was the longest run in franchise history, surpassing Bobby Mitchell’s 90-yard TD against the Redskins in 1959.

1. No Bell, no problem.

The saga is finally over. Former Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell decided to forgo signing his franchise tag today, meaning he’ll spend the remainder of the season where he started it… off the field.

The beneficiary continues to be James Connor.

With the Steelers organization not budging, it has allowed the second-year back out of Pittsburgh to step in. The offense hasn’t skipped a beat.

Connor is actually out-performing his predecessor:

Bell through 9 gms in '17: 160 att., 528 yds, 5 TDs & 33 catches for 319 yds

Connor through 9 gms in '18: 164 att., 771 yds, 10 TDs & 39 catches for 386 yds, TD

Connor continues to carry the load for the Steelers (sportingnews.com). 

He's accomplished some impressive feats along the way: 

Connor is the only player in Steelers’ history with at least 1,000 scrimmage yards and 10 TDs in the first 8 games of a season (NFLonESPN).

He has four games with at least 100 rushing yards, 50 receiving yards and a TD this season – the most such games by any player in a season in NFL history (ESPN Stats).

I think it’s safe to say the Steelers are just fine without Bell.

Team > Me.