Khari dives into 10 Thoughts on the National Football League
- Sean McDermott is proof that defensive-minded head coaches aren’t always the over-conservative goofballs we think they are. When it came time for him to put the ball in his alien QBs hands, he did it. Sometimes, playing for points isn’t good enough. You have to go win the game. That’s what the Buffalo Bills did, and they ended the Kansas City Chiefs’ undefeated season because they didn’t play like chumps. You love to see it.
- This loss from the Chiefs tells me they remain more than capable of making it out of the AFC despite being very vulnerable, especially on offense. Patrick Mahomes didn’t have a great game, and they still were a fourth-down stop away from having a chance to go win the game with a touchdown. Even at 9-1, we likely haven’t seen the Chiefs’ true potential yet, which is an unsettling thought.
- What did we say: end the Joe Flacco disaster and let Anthony Richardson do whatever he was going to do out there. The second-year QB responded with arguably the best game of his young career, accounting for three total touchdowns and completing 20 of his 30 passes, as the Colts topped the ailing Jets. Watching him outplay Aaron Rodgers softens the blow of the Bears’ latest blown contest against the Packers. Speaking of which…
- Sometimes, Occam’s razor does hold the answers. Swapping out Shane Waldron for Thomas Brown had Caleb Williams looking like a different QB and reignited the fire in guys like DJ Moore and Cole Kmet offensively. Williams did everything right to earn the signature win over Green Bay on that last drive — something we’re not used to seeing. The fact that the Bears found a way to blow it in the end again isn’t an indictment on him. Unfortunately, only the OC got fired last week, not Chicago’s head coach.
- Steelers fans don’t know how good they have it. Mike Tomlin’s genius decision to call a late timeout before the Ravens’ potential game-tying two-point conversion attempt worked like gangbusters, even causing Baltimore to unintentionally reveal their play call before they heard the whistle and forcing them to switch to a different, ill-fated call that Pittsburgh turned away. Then, switching to the more threatening Justin Fields with the Steelers trying to run out the clock as opposed to Wilson, who got sacked four times and simply doesn’t have juice in the run game anymore? That’s why the football gods keep favoring him.
- There’s no more fun team to watch in the NFL than the Detroit Lions. They dismantle opponents with such joy and creativity that it’s impossible not to love them. Can you even fathom a Bears team putting up 645 yards in an NFL game?
- No disrespect at all to Tua Tagovailoa, who has proven himself a good NFL QB, but … anyone who tried to seriously argue that Justin Herbert isn’t the better of the two QBs can’t be trusted. That man has a legitimate argument to be the best QB in football right now, and he’s doing more with less than any passer in the league. Just do us a favor and slide instead of trying to truck the DB next time.
- Honestly, I feel a little bad for Daniel Jones. It’s not his fault the Giants picked him sixth overall in 2019 despite him never being that good in college, paid him $40 million a year after one season of throwing for a whopping 3,205 yards and 15 TDs, or waited this long to finally bench him when he proved every bit as bad as everyone but the Giants knew he was. Good on him for getting the bag, of course, but hating on him feels like being mad at a toddler for drawing on the walls.
- On that note: every second the Dallas Cowboys and Jacksonville Jaguars keep Mike McCarthy and Doug Pederson, respectively, as their head coaches is just as uncomfortable for those men as it is for the rest of us. Free those dudes. Free those franchises’ fans. Free us all. Jerry Jones gets shamed regardless, so it’s a win-win for the football world anyway.
- You’ll never make me hate Geno Smith. Ever.