Wow, what a wild weekend of soccer.
I don't know about you, but it seemed like almost every game Sunday had a quirky, impactful play. Quarterbacks threw pick-sixes in their own end zones, players fumbled the 1-inch line, and Kirk Cousins threw for 509(!) yards in a prime-time game.
Also, are the Vikings 5-0? We entered the Twilight Zone and no one told us?
Naturally, an eventful week in football means there's plenty to talk about in today's edition of The Skinny Post. In fact, this week's version is so football-packed that it could practically be called “The…Hefty Post.”
Wow, that was no good. I'll take a look at myself.
Are you okay! For soccer!
The Giants looked capable in their win over the Seahawks without Malik Nabors. Would you buy this team that has turned a corner?
Michael: The Giants rode into Seattle and won by nine points over the Seahawks without star receiver Malik Nabors. They basically got a blocked field goal and returned it for a touchdown to win, but if they hadn't blocked it, the team probably would have gone into overtime, and who knows what happened after that? I don't know. Fortunately, the Giants didn't have to worry about that.
Daniel Jones looked like the quarterback they were paying him to be. He completed 23 of 34 passes for 257 yards and two scores without throwing an interception. On the ground, former Iowa State Hawkeye legend and rookie running back Tyron Tracy Jr. rushed for 129 yards on 18 carries.
Although they couldn't steal the ball defensively, they made enough plays in the end and traded blows with the Seahawks until the very end, when they made clutch plays to close the door on the Seahawks. My question here is, can the Giants be like this for the rest of the season? Was this just a bad game for the Seahawks, or should we place any weight on this win for New York?
As our Giants-hating resident, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
RJ: There's zero chance I want to believe that the Giants are capable in any way, but I'm not here to rain on Sunday's victory parade. It was a fierce and emotional battle. More than one thing could be true.
What was certainly impressive here, beyond the general stuff, is that Seattle looked so strong last Monday night. I don't think the Giants can challenge the NFC East or the NFC as a whole, but they have a chance to spoil it a little for someone in the future.
At the end of the day, what this most suggests to me is that Brian Daboll's group isn't completely done with him. I think that's great, but at the end of the day, their limitations are very clear.
Aaron Rodgers is not just a disaster off the field like he used to be, but on the field as well.
RJ: Sticking with the New York theme here…the Jets were terrible in London on Sunday.
I know Aaron Rodgers had what turned out to be a sprained ankle and came back from that, which was fun, but in the end he threw three interceptions. he said after the game He was told it was the first time he had thrown multiple picks in the first quarter.
As I mentioned, I'm a Cowboys fan, so I've been burned many times (literally every time) by doubting Rodgers. So my point here is not coming from a biased perspective…Is he…bad? Is he really bad?
Just talking about Aaron Rodgers being a functioning quarterback right now doesn't convince me that he's one of the top half-quarterbacks in the NFL. Things obviously get even worse when you factor in the endless tension and drama that comes with him. The team announced the replacement for former head coach Robert Saleh on Tuesday, but was he really the problem?
It's a blessing for New Yorkers that both the Yankees and Mets are doing well, but think about it for a second. Could the Jets have the bleakest outlook of the four teams in New York football and baseball? Given that the Jets have the biggest star on the roster (with all due respect to Aaron Judge) ), which is quite unacceptable.
Rodgers was supposed to fix the Jets' Jets-ness. So far, he's about the same.
Michael: So, to be honest, I believe Rodgers is still a “great” quarterback in the NFL. However, his interception against the Vikings was entirely his fault. His first interception was simply a throw into the face of linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel. He knows the play is a now screen and he has to rotate the ball and throw it, but he does it with the full assumption that Ginkel, who has done that twice in his career, won't be there. It was.
The second interception was a blatant overthrow. It was so high that his receiver couldn't reach it even if it was fully extended above his head. The final interception that ended the game was He lost big to Mike Williams. You know, the same 6-foot-4 Mike Williams who made big bucks grabbing both Philip Rivers and Justin Herbert over the past seven years.
When Rodgers made accurate, tight pitches, his receivers certainly dropped a drop or two, but the macro decisions that led to this loss were 100% on Rodgers. Did you wash it? perhaps. perhaps.
Caleb Williams did Caleb Williams things, but he didn't quite beat Jayden Daniels for Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Michael: It was a bye week for the Chargers, so this Sunday I woke up before the sun and drove an hour south to spend time with friends. I watched the game in London before watching the Bears beat the Panthers. My friend is a Bears fan from Chicago who lives near here in the Twin Cities and was excited to finally see Caleb Williams do something special.
Luckily, he was playing against the Panthers and did not disappoint.
Williams completed 20 of 29 passes for 304 yards and two touchdowns. He also tipped in 34 yards on the ground and would have scored a rushing touchdown had the offensive lineman not been flagged for a penalty.
The rookie didn't turn the ball over and had several plays where he used his feet to avoid sacks or extend plays and drives. It was a performance befitting this year's No. 1 pick. However, I don't think that affected the early stages of this year's Offensive Rookie of the Year. Jaden Daniels and the coaches did what they had to do. They scored over 30 points and helped a lowly Browns team. Through 5 games. Daniels threw for 1,135 yards and had 300 yards rushing on the dots. He has four passing touchdowns and four rushing scores.
If you compare that to Williams' 1,091 yards and five scores, you'd think they're pretty close, but Williams is well behind Daniels' ground game of 113 yards and zero scores.
I really liked Caleb's game on Sunday, but Daniels is still in a different tier at this point in the season.
RJ: Caleb's arrival against the Carolina Panthers was poetic given the history leading up to this point. I'm so glad Bears fans can finally breathe a little bit, seeing Williams start to find himself and grow.
But for the time being, there's no chance of him catching Jaden Daniels. What we're seeing in Washington is pretty remarkable, and I wonder if it will continue throughout the season. Of course if not, it could open the door for Caleb to get ROTY, but it's been a while since we've had this good back and forth between the top two picks in the class. All in all, I'm here for it.
I can't help but feel like Chicago is still behind the rest of the division, but that's what makes the conversation interesting. The NFC East is a little, um, weird right now, even though the Bears are still in last place at 3-2. In some cases, you may be unlucky in the draw.
Should we panic about the 49ers?
RJ: It's pretty incredible to me that the San Francisco 49ers lost at home to the Arizona Cardinals. I had some faith in Arizona this year, but no one predicted this.
The 49ers have been a great team for a long time, but everyone thought the bottom would fall out at some point. Is it now? Have you hit rock bottom? I don't think so at all, but the old 49ers teams didn't give up games like this.
Consider that San Francisco has already lost three games on the season. Last year they lost all five games, and the year before that they lost four games. At least this feels like their most indestructible version to date.
Am I overreacting?
Michael: I don't think this is a strange reaction. Yes, the 49ers are without All-World running back Christian McCaffrey. But they do have Nick Bosa, George Kittle, Fred Warner, Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. They have a lot of great players, some of them the best at their respective positions, and that's a lot more than many other teams can say about their roster. The 49ers still have a lot of talent to continue being a phenomenal team. That's why I'm panicking about the 49ers.
Brock Purdy is still a pretty good quarterback despite all the controversy surrounding him over the past two seasons. He was great in Kyle Shanahan's system. However, he is still vulnerable to mistakes made by others. The NFL is a game of inches, and one or two mistakes here and there can change the course of the game. Sometimes the dice don't roll the way you want. Purdy, like anyone, is prone to making mistakes in key situations that can lead to losses. As it happens, it seems to be popping up more often this year than in past seasons.
The 49ers are probably going to be okay, but now they need to show me and the rest of the league that this is just a slow start and that things are going to be different.
